Menzoberranzan to Morrowind
by M'jai
Summary: A re-upload of an old story I wrote years ago. A drow lost in Morrowind fulfilled the Nerevarine Prophecy. But the second half of the prophecy remains unfulfilled, and if one drow can crossover ... can others?
1. Chapter 1: Menzoberranzan to Morrowind

Menzoberranzan to Morrowind

by M'jai

Written: 2006/02

Re-uploaded and Revised: 1 June 2010

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Disclaimer:

Morrowind world setting is property of Bethesda. Some of the character references and plot ideas for this story were inspired by mods designed by fans. The Realmsfade books and Mysthaven Manor came from the"Mysthaven Manor" mod by William the Taffer. Talvalo's character and several other employees of the manor were inspired by the mod "CM Partners 2.8" by Cutthroat Mods. The horse breeds, descriptions, and ranch near Vos was inspired by the mod "Pegas Horse Ranch" by Madmax. The drow cavern behind the tomb was inspired by "Abandoned Drow Cave" by Kalikut. I have put my own slight twist on certain aspects of these mods to pull them from my game into this story. If you created one of these mods and you _don't_ want your specific character or place names used, contact me and I will edit changes. Along those lines, I have also altered the game's dialog and moon cycles to flow more naturally and easily for this story, so please don't expect game-exact scripts and mechanics. There are game spoilers for _Morrowind_, _Tribunal_, and _Bloodmoon_ in this story.

Faerun, Menzoberranzan, the drow race, Lloth, Kimmuriel Oblodra, Drizzt Do'Urden, and anything else mentioned in relation to _Forgotten Realms _setting are property of Wizards of the West Coast. I stake no claim on them in any way. Chizrae is my creation based on the drow race presented in old _Dungeons and Dragons_ character creation standards. Her house name, family, and background are my original design, though some events in her history were built through games shared with friends and their characters. I am forever in their debt for helping me develop my imagination and refine my storytelling. Khyron's character is the creation of my friend Michael, who continues to deny his own imaginative talent. I also have him to thank for the lizard tale inspiration. (wink) Mikal is the creation of my friend Evan, who gave me permission to do _whatever_ I wanted including him in this little tale. The bard is lucky I won't test how far I can stretch my boundaries with that blank check like that. (evil grin) Thanks for giving me permission to use them in the story!

If you are a drow-a-holic and a _Morrowind_ addict, you might enjoy a blend of these settings.

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Chapter 1: Menzoberranzan to Morrowind

_(30 years ago in the land of Faerun ...)_

The stars shone like diamonds on the moonless night, and a gentle breeze wafted into the interior of the cave in the small, rocky cliff.

"Two dwellings face toward the gate in close range," a harsh voice hissed with impatience. "The rest face other directions or are distant within the walls."

The young drowess blinked, her attention being brought back to the speaker. "Then we must take out the two dwellings facing the gate first. If we can open the gate without any alarms being raised, we can move in more quickly. Daerazal, split the warriors and send half with Aseidan. You will come with me."

The drow warrior regarded his younger sister without expression before leaving to obediently do her bidding. "As you wish, _Jabbress_."

Chizrae's glowing eyes narrowed and followed her brother's movements in the darkness of the cave. Did she detect jealousy? Good. Her hand slid past the symbolic weapon of the Llothian priestess, a snake-headed whip that writhed at her hip with every twitch of emotion she felt. It was a personal gift from the spider goddess for every priestess worthy of earning it. But past the whip her hand came to rest on the hilt of a solid black, adamantite-bladed weapon beneath her robes. Spiderbite meant more to her because it represented years of secret sword-training against her mother's directive in the clergy of Lloth. She would show her dear brother this night that his blade skills could not only be matched, but surpassed.

As she propped one boot heel on a rock, she smiled in anticipation and caught a hint of cool breeze - fresh air from outside the cavern. This would be her first surface raid, and her first battle wearing her newly rewarded rank as Battlecaptain. She would make Jereassien proud - such trouble her lover and trainer had gone through to secretly teach her and gain such special weapons for her. She turned her gaze onto the village of sleeping humans. By the time they knew what hit them, it would be too late - ebony faces, blood-red eyes, and stark white hair would be their final nightmare.

Daerazal returned to his sister's side. "The warriors are ready, _Jabbress._"

"Then let the party begin," she murmured with a roguish smile before turning to face her fighters. "All hail Lloth! Lloth be with you in this victory tonight!" She raised her hands in blessing. "For it is the destiny of the drow to conquer all." As she spoke the words of an ancient prayer, magical sparks of red-hot energy surrounded her troop of twenty, slamming into the warriors with a shimmering, protective force that quickly faded, cooling their body heat and allowing them to fade into shadows, even among eyes with infravision. In response, the warriors readied their weapons and grinned with malicious bloodlust. Chizrae, quirked a white brow at her brother's mute smile of satisfaction, then turned and arrogantly strode past him to the cave's entrance.

Moments later, dark elves were creeping silently under a moonless canopy of stars and dropping over the stone wall to the ground on the other side without so much as a rustle. Death had come to the human village, and its name was drow.

It didn't take long for the gates to be opened from the inside. Chizrae and Daerazal lead their minor division to the right. "Shut the gate and guard it. None shall escape," Chizrae ordered, drawing her whip of hissing and snapping fangs. She waited for her brother and another warrior to kick in the door of the first unsuspecting household, and then followed them in with a dark grin.

The farmer and his wife sat up in bed with shock, but immediately recognized, by the rush of crimson eyes glowing in the darkness, what kind of creatures had invaded their home. "The baby! Elisha, get the baby!"

"House Velve'Xukuth has decided your village is unworthy of the Spider Queen's tolerance any longer," Chizrae hissed before snapping the whip forward across the woman's torso. The snake heads raked their magical fangs across the woman neck and chest, making her scream with excruciating pain. The farmer was already trying to grasp the drowess and pull her away from the assault on his wife, but a sword pierced his gut from behind.

"Don't toy with them unless they are last ones, Chizrae!" Daerazal growled. "Their cries will alert the others too soon."

"Are you giving orders to me? How dare you talk to me like that!" Chizrae tore open her Llothian robes and drew her newly enchanted black longsword. The wicked extension of her slender, black arm surprised him with a swift, broadside slap. "You forget your respect, Daerazal! I am in command of this raid!"

Daerazal drew back at the hot sting and touched the trickle of blood that rolled down his cheek, stunned more by the sight of the new weapon than the small, disciplinary gash.

Chizrae interpreted his expression to mean he doubted her ability to use the sword, so she turned on her terrified victim and slashed the woman's neck with such force that the head severed from the body in one blow. Though blood splattered on her _piwafwi_, arm and cheek, she gazed at the cleanness of the cut with pride and then turned to face her brother. "You can take care of the offspring, can't you?" she dryly commented as she pushed past him and out of the house.

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Daerazal's heat-seeing eyes remained focused behind her, on the corpse pooling in its own white-hot blood. The extremities were already beginning to cool to shades of violet and blue. One strike had sliced through bone like butter. Her weapon had been enchanted far beyond his own. How had she managed to get her hands on something like that? There was only one answer, of course - the house weapons master, Jereassien. The sound of a human baby crying reached past the throbbing pulse in his brain, and he followed it to find a small child and toddler huddled together in the corner near the baby's cradle. She would leave him the demeaning task of taking out the helpless offspring? A bitter grimace found its way to his ebony lips as he gripped the hilt of his own adamantite sword and strode toward the terrified children. "As you wish, ... _Jabbress_."

))((

As drow warriors slaughtered villagers, drow mages cast fireballs on the dwellings of thatch, wood, and stone. Nothing was allowed to survive this raid - especially not hiding places. Chizrae gazed at her grand destruction and laughed. Her sinister mirth was interrupted, however, when she spotted a young man trying to rescue his family by setting them on a frantic horse he had pulled from a burning barn.

"Ride until you reach anyone that can help!" he shouted above the battle, as he handed two young children up to his wife. The young woman on the horse was sobbing in protest as she cradled the hysterical children to her breast.

Chizrae's jaw set in anger. Her raid would have no survivors - no foolish attempts to escape and bring help! Breaking into a sprint, and raising her black-bladed sword with a war cry, she launched an attack on the horse. The beast fell quickly and hard, throwing the woman and her children. Chizrae raised the sword again to go after the escapees, but was stopped when something stabbed painfully into her back. The farmer was trying to thrust a pitchfork through her. Snarling with contempt, she pushed the pitchfork back and dodged his next attempt, and managed to kick the makeshift weapon away to score a deadly blow of her own. Then, jerking her bloodied Spiderbite from the dead man's throat, her hand slick with the glow of warm blood, she turned her enraged gaze on the fallen man's injured wife. "You will not escape my trap, human _rothe_! This village is my signature on the world!"

The woman crawled to her husband's body and watched as her children fled. "Run! Run for help!" she screamed after them. They never made it past the drow warriors at the gate.

When the woman's misery was complete seeing the slaughter of her children, Chizrae raised Spiderbite once more to finish her. Suddenly, a strong black arm slipped beneath her neck from behind, staying her strike with a firm hold while a dagger punched hard and deep between her ribs.

"This village is _Lloth's_ signature on the world," Daerazal corrected with a soft, low hiss into her sharp elven ear. "The Spider Queen is not pleased that you would take her glory. You forget your respect, Chizrae," he added, clearly enjoying the irony of making his sister eat her own words.

Chizrae gasped at the shock and sharpness of the pain. Daerazal's words seemed to come from a great distance, though he was only a breath away.

The trembling woman beneath Chizrae's killing blow had been prepared to die, but now she stole the opportunity to crawl to her husband's body and mourn.

"A handmaiden has revealed your secrets to Matron Sevlessa, and she has demanded your beloved _Qu'el'saruk_ Jereassien in payment. You have disgraced House Velve'Xukuth with your disobedience, and now you are both at the mercy of the goddess." Daerazal chuckled at the irony in his own words. The goddess of the drow, like the drow themselves, never showed mercy. It was a sign of weakness.

Chizrae's breath became ragged as she struggled to absorb her brother's news. Jereassein, her weapons master and lover, had been sacrificed, ... by a mother who plotted both of their deaths, ... at the hand of her only brother, … for a goddess that had betrayed her. "Jereassien?" she whispered in shock, clearly able to visualize her lover having his heart cut from his chest and offered as a spiteful gift to appease the Lady of Chaos. "_Nau._" Her already racing heartbeat quickened. "_Nau_! You lie!" she snarled between gasps. "You have resented my station as Battlecaptain over you ever since Matron Sevlessa gave me the position over you! I am a priestess of Lloth! You are only a male! How dare you defy me!" She pushed her brother away, stumbled forward, and tried to cast a healing spell on herself, but no divine magic came to her aid. Where was Lloth?

Daerazal smirked in grim pleasure at the obvious sign of failure as he slowly backed away. "Only a male, … but I am walking away from this, and _you_ are not. I was told to leave your corpse in the hands of your enemies because you are a disgrace to House Velve'Xukuth. If they do not shred you for what you have done here tonight, tomorrow the burning sun will rise, and the wild animals will feast on your remains. Either way, your station is no longer a problem to me. I have _earned_ my promotion to Battlecaptain. _Alluve_', dear sister."

With outraged heartache, Chizrae collapsed to her hands and knees in the mud. The smoke and heat of the burning buildings around her stung her eyes as she watched him snatch her precious Spiderbite from the ground and call to her warriors - _his_ warriors, now. They were abandoning her. "Daerazal! Don't you dare walk away from me! You can't leave me here like this! Daerazal!" Grasping her snake-headed whip, she struggled to stand, to catch up to them. "Lloth, my Queen! I have done all for your glory! Don't let them get away with this! It's blasphemy!" But the whip quickly turned on her, all five snake heads sinking fangs deep into her arm, hand, and thigh, sending shock waves of excruciating, magical pain. The excommunicated priestess struggled desperately to free herself from their repeated attacks, and then, just before losing consciousness, she watched the whip disintegrate to dust and blow away - the power of Lloth's blessings never to be hers again.

))((

The drow troops, adrenaline-pumped from their destructive chaos, regrouped back within the safety of their cave. Some bagged human ears they would dry and add to their collection of souvenir kills. Some were already trading tales of their dastardly deeds and laughing darkly at the rush of power they had felt this night. And some, the young, were still lingering at the cave entrance, wishing they had not be recalled - wishing there had been more humans to destroy. They would have to wait until the Running, now that they had passed their rite of passage into adulthood through the Blooding.

Daerazal smiled to himself at their energy and enthusiasm. He was certain that if his stab had not been enough to kill Chizrae, the human female that had lost her husband and children to his sister's attack would finish the job for him. "_Dal ultrinnan ulu el'inssrigg_!" He shouted and raised Spiderbite in answer to their bloodlust. The new Battlecaptain's cry was heralded by the drow around him. He counted the remaining heads left under his command. Only a few had been lost, and the plunder for House Velve'Xukuth had been good. It was time to go home, ... for all but one of them.

))((

Back in the burning village, the woman that had survived Chizrae's attack groped her way toward the unconscious dark elf and touched her throat to feel a pulse. The drowess was still alive. Not understanding their language, she could not comprehend why the male drow turned on the female, but she knew it had not been to spare her own life. Filled with rage and despair, the young woman grasped her husband's pitchfork and lifted it over Chizrae's heart in a white-knuckled grip to finish what he started. But then, ... she hesitated. She began to sob and dropped the sword. Even after everything that had happened, she couldn't do it. "I'm not like you," she whispered hoarsely to the unconscious drow. "I will despise you from the depths of my broken heart for all eternity, but I am not a murderer!" She threw aside the pitchfork. "I ... am a healer. Your blood ... will not be on my hands," she informed the dark elf as she sniffled and - in a not-so-gentle manner - began stripping away the supple armor that concealed the dire wound.

))((

As the sun rose on the burning remains of the village, the handful of survivors from the raid came out of hiding to see the full extent of their losses. They protested the decision to save the drow, but the healer's resolve to not mirror the spiteful violence they had witnessed that night was strong. She patched Chizrae up with what magical herbs and bandages she could find, after the survivors of her village were tended first. Then, they transported the still-unconscious drow on a trundle to the cavern of an old hermit wizard behind the forest where their village once proudly stood. They suspected the wizard was actually a green dragon, so they offered the drow to him in hopes that he would hunt down the other raiders escaping back into the Underdark. The wizard agreed to the exchange. Elf meat was his favorite. When the humans left, however, he devised another plan.

Chizrae didn't recover from her injuries until several days later. When she woke, she found herself in chains in a dark cavern facing a forest grove. Moreover, she found herself cloaked in illusionary magic that made her appear to be human. Her protests were greeted by the old hermit who then transformed himself to reveal that he was, in fact, a very large, green, forest dragon. And as a forest dragon, he had no intention of wasting his time wandering through dark, cramped tunnels in search of nasty little drow. A damsel in distress, however, could bait many would-be heroes into his den. Chizrae had become a novelty item in this monster's collection of treasures. This time, she thought, her life had surely come to an end. But in fact, it had only just begun.

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_(Two weeks following the defeat of Dagoth Ur at Red Mountain, … Morrowind)_

As a gold elf, Talvalo Shalonethyr towered above most of the people in the room at Shenk's Shovel, in the sleepy, little coal-mining town of Caldera. It was dusk now, and the tavern was becoming crowded with prospects. He wondered who to introduce himself to first - preferably a woman, preferably high bred, and preferably in need of a bodyguard, or at least companionship. He had almost settled upon an attractive Breton with cropped auburn hair and stunning blue eyes, when he noticed another petite figure weaving its way through the crowd behind her. Another female, no doubt, judging by the soft texture of the indigo, hooded cloak she wore and the way that she moved. Talvalo wondered briefly if he had already had the pleasure of meeting her before, but his question was answered when close contact with another patron brushed back her hood exposing snow-white hair and an ebony-colored face. "My gods, ... that's the darkest dark elf I've ever seen," he muttered to himself in mild astonishment. "Does she mine ebony, or is she made of it?" Forgetting all about the Breton, he set down his glass of wine and left the counter to follow his curiosity, and her trail, to the back of the room where a food merchant had set up a stall.

"Five blocks of cheese, five salted bark fish, and ten oranges." Chizrae placed her order and counted her gold as the food merchant nodded and began to wrap and bag her items.

"Good evening." Talvalo boldly approached her. "I hope you don't mind me saying so, but I can't remember when I've seen such an intriguing dunmer. May I ask your name?"

Chizrae raised an arched brow and turned her chin to survey the altmer, but then ignored him and returned her attention to the food being prepared for purchase.

Talvalo was not used to such immediate, flat rejection, but he smiled at what he supposed was humor. "Have you been to Red Mountain since the skies have cleared? You look as if you fell into the core of the volcano itself and burnt to a lovely shade of crisp."

This time the drowess turned her chin toward him with a slight frown. "I have been to Red Mountain, yes. But I did not fall into it; I went under it."

Talvalo paused. "Under it?" That seemed unlikely, but at least she was speaking to him now.

"I killed Dagoth Ur. Have you heard of him? He was the last man to harass me."

Talvalo's expression fell slightly, both at her cold tone and her bold statement. Rumors had been flying like crazy ever since the skies above Red Mountain cleared. The dunmer prophecies of the Sixth House had been fulfilled, but very little was widely known yet about this person that the Ashlanders called "the Nerevarine".

"Here you are. Five salted bark fish, five cheese, and ten oranges." The food merchant handed a cloth sack to the drowess.

Chizrae paid her money and nodded her head in small gratitude before promptly walking away.

Talvalo pressed through the crowd to follow. "You know, I've seen General Nerevar's likeness in statues and paintings. You don't look anything like him," he complimented.

"I don't suppose I do." She pushed open the door.

"Tell me, then. What was it like under Red Mountain?" He followed her out of the tavern.

"Dark, hot, and full of lava."

"That's it? There had to have been more to it than that. Red ash blight storms have been blowing around that mountain ever since I can remember. Blighted animals driven insane by the diseases carried on the wind attack anything in sight. Corprus monsters that were once human have been sighted around the land - their flesh literally bloating, rotting, and dropping off of them until they are nothing but empty hulls that eat the flesh of their own dead. And strange ash creatures from beyond this realm have been reported inside the Ghostgate and in Sixth House cults. And all you can say about it is that it was hot and full of lava? Weren't there horrors beyond imagination?"

"There were mindless idiots walking around in loincloths and fat creatures that looked like overfed illithids," she droned, tiring quickly of his attention.

The gold elf's nose scrunched in confusion. "Fat what?"

Chizrae stopped with a sigh and faced her unwanted companion. "Look, I don't like you or this conversation. If you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone now. ... Or do I have to report you to one of these clones in a guard uniform."

"No need to call on guards. I just forgot my manners. My apologies - my name is Talvalo." He gave a short bow. "I'm a mercenary battlemage looking for challenging hire among good company, and you look like you might be both. " He pushed back the hood of his ornate, red robe to reveal pale-green eyes, a finely chiseled face, and long red hair, neatly tied back in a gold clasp.

Chizrae took note of the polished silver armor visible at the neck and sleeves beneath his robe, and the longsword and axe strapped onto his hips. "Well, Sir Paladin, I'm not a damsel in distress." She started to move past him.

"I ... didn't say you were." Again, he was caught off-guard by her frank mannerism, but he stepped in front of her to prevent her from walking away just yet. "And, ... while knights and paladins are admirable company, I'm afraid I like a few more worldly pleasures than their codes of conduct usually allow. But, you look like you're stocking up for a trip. Am I right?" He gestured to the sack of food in her arms. "Perhaps I can be of small service to you along the way?"

Chizrae was becoming irritated with his persistence. "Why?"

"Why?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, ... I just ... happen to like a good adventure and a change of scenery from day to day. I'm a bit of a wanderer at heart. I am originally from a very boring noble house in Cyrodiil, but I'm registered with several chapters of the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild throughout Vvardenfell, if you want to check my credentials first. There's a Mages Guild in this town, in fact."

"I know that."

"Do you? You don't seem to be from this region, so I assumed you didn't know."

"I'm not, but I do."

He tried to remain polite in the face of her rudeness. "May I ask where you're from, then?"

"You may, but I will not answer."

Talvalo was finally at a loss for words, but he was still not ready to bid her good night yet. He stubbornly tried to think of something else to say.

The drow pitied his effort with a begruding sigh. "Do you know the region of Molag Amur?"

The altmer stopped straining to find his silver tongue. "I have a good sense of direction and knowledge of prominent landmarks, if that's what you mean. Is that where you're headed? Molag Amur is a long way from here - a dangerous journey, too. Then again, if you've been under Red Mountain, I suppose a few wild animals are no skin off your back."

"I have a excavation report to pick up for the Mages Guild. They're doing research at a dwemer ruin in the Molag Amur region. Every direction looks the same out there in that godforsaken land, and I've lost my way more times than I care to count."

"My lady, I am at your service." He bowed graciously, glad to hear it. But then, he quickly added, "For two hundred septims a week."

She wasn't surprised. "Pricey little bastard, aren't you."

"I am willing to negotiate other options."

"Good. Because I don't have it. I will pay you upon completion of the task when I am paid, and I will share provisions with you for the journey. Is that well enough?"

"Well enough," he agreed with a light smile. "Oh, and ..." He lifted a finger. "You must agree to tell me more about what happened under Red Mountain, ... if indeed you truly are the Nerevarine."

With that settled, she began a strong pace toward the southern gate.

"Wonderful. And, ... might I know the name of my contractor?" He followed at an easy stroll, though he could have easily outpaced her with his long legs.

"Chizrae."

"That's an unusual name. Sounds like a kiss with a razor's edge. Chizrae ..." He repeated the name using word association to help remember it, but he said it as if it carried an air of suspense about it. "No surname?"

"My last name does not matter because my House is dead. But it's Velve'Xukuth, if you must know."

He blinked as the strange name whizzed past him in her strange accent. "Velkuth what? That doesn't sound dunmer."

"Because I am not dunmer."

"Then, ... what are you?"

"Drow."

The term did not ring any bells for him - not for race or region.

"The dark elves where I come from are nothing like the dark elves of this place. Our skins are darker, our eyes are brighter, and our magic is quite different. The dark elves here despise necromancy. The dark elves where I come from are experts at it."

"Oh. ... I see."

She flashed him a thin, dry smirk. "I don't think you do."

"Well, at least you seem to be like our dark elves in one respect. You don't hesitate to speak your mind." He happily shifted his backpack into a more comfortable position for walking. "So then, where are we headed for the night?"

"Vivec."

"Ah, teleportation. But the Mages Guild is behind us, toward the north gate."

"I'm not teleporting; I'm walking. They charge too much for teleportation."

His expression fell slightly. "Walking? But Vivec is -"

"A long way away," she finished his thoughts.

"And you intend to walk that distance in the dark?"

"The evening is cooler and clearer for me to travel."

"But more dangerous."

Chizrae chuckled to herself. "For me? Or for the fool who tries to attack me?"

))((

Their journey had carried them through the town of Balmora, down a long country road toward Pelagiad. Most of the trek was done in silence because Chizrae had little to say and Talvalo was trying to respectfully guard his tongue against offending the touchy woman that would be the source of his next payment. But by sunrise, the altmer could stand the silence no more and was ready to try to engage her in conversation again. "We've been walking all night. Might I suggest we stop in Pelagiad for a rest before going any further?"

"I decline."

"You ... decline. Of course, you decline," he muttered in discouragement, but he continued to follow her pace as he watched the sign toward the town - and the tavern - pass them by. "You know, what you need is a horse. A horse could cut your travel time in half if you don't like paying teleport fees."

"I can't afford a horse, and I'm not settled enough to consider ownership of one. But I do like them. They don't have horses where I came from. They're strong, graceful creatures - like art in motion. Someday, perhaps."

"The Reincarnate of the Great General Nerevar can't afford a horse."

"I am not Nerevar's Reincarnate."

"No? You just happened to come along at the right time and the right place to fulfill his role. Come now. I may not be an Ashlander, but even I understand the complexity of such prophecies. There's no way you could have accomplished the defeat of Dagoth Ur without some kind of supernatural help."

"I had the favor of four Ashlander tribes and three Great Houses. I also had the favor of the Daedric Prince Azura. That was more than enough support for the task, though it would have been nicer if they had lent me some armed warriors rather than sending me in all by myself."

"And how did you come to gain the favor of one such as her? You know, no offense, but you resemble a dremora lord a bit yourself - minus the hellish, red tattoos and horns, of course." Talvalo delivered a clipped smile along with his comment.

Chizrae cut him a skeptical side glance. "A noble elf with a sense of humor. Will miracles never cease." She looked straight ahead again. "I came to this world through a portal from Oblivion. Azura protected me so that she could employ me to accomplish her final revenge on the Sixth House here."

Talvalo didn't know what to think of that. "You came through Oblivion?"

"The Multiverse connects all portals of time and place. I don't understand it myself, but it's true or I wouldn't be here."

"You couldn't pay me enough to walk through Oblivion. You must have had Azura's blessing to survive that. But ... why did you leave your world?"

"I was an escaped prisoner of one noble house after having been exiled from another. When you leave under conditions like that, ... you can never really go home again."

"Exiled? Why?"

Chizrae cringed slightly at the memories. "It's not important now."

Talvalo could tell by the somewhat emotionless expression and loss of edge to her tone that it was still important to her, but he decided not to pry further.

))((

By the time they arrived at the outskirts of Vivec, they were both hot and sweaty from the exhausting, non-stop trip. Chizrae paused only to cover her eyes from the glare of the noon day sun before turning left and heading down an inlet toward the docks. She nodded to a ship master who usually stationed his boat there and continued across the old, gray pier. As she walked, her eyes focused between the slats on the large slaughterfish that swam beneath them, following them with predatory stealth. "Not today," she quietly told it. "I will not fall through any loose boards into your jaws today."

Talvalo followed her down the extended docks around the city and up a ladder to an abandoned building. "So this is where the Nerevarine lives? I was expecting a palace."

"I'm working on that." At the door, Chizrae removed her boots and stepped inside. "Jiub?" she called as she set her shoes near an old, lacquered chest and unclasped her indigo cloak, tossing it toward a handrail leading down some stone steps.

Talvalo squinted slightly at the name, but paused to set down his backpack and copy her actions, placing his boots next to hers. He crossed the soft straw mats on the floor and found a more typical-looking, ash-blue dark elf sitting by the fire pit at a low table with a book in his hands. This dunmer had a shaved head, a scar across one eye, and multiple piercings in his nose, ears, and lips - the kind of person that normally made Talvalo rest a hand close to his money pouch and his sword.

"This book's interesting. It's really old, but probably worth at least a hundred hundred septims." Jiub closed it in one hand and looked up at her, obviously not expecting to see company.

"Talvalo this is Jiub; Jiub, Talvalo." She introduced them with a flat, uninterested tone, but then promptly answered the dunmer's appraisal. "I'm not selling the book."

Jiub nodded to the high-bred altmer with caution, but continued to converse with the drow. "It's a cookbook. Why would someone like you need a cookbook?"

Her snow white brows furrowed over her dark crimson eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Please, Chiz, you're not exactly a gourmet chef. You can barely afford a loaf of bread, much less these fancy ingredients. Sell the book at the trade house and get your money's worth from it."

"One of these days I will be able to eat a meal that wasn't grilled over an open fire pit, and when I do, I will use that book. Soup would be nice for a change, you know." She set her bag of food on the small table and pulled out an orange. "I'm not selling it."

"Aren't you going to say anything about the stray elf behind you?" Jiub used a finger to pry open the sack and see what else she bought. "A cat would have been more practical you know, considering all the rats down in the cellar."

"He's a battlemage. And he's going with me to Molag Amur because he says he knows the region."

Jiub raised the back of his hand to his mouth and gave a gruff laugh. "An altmer knows the Ashlands?"

Talvalo raised an indignant brow at the dunmer's assumptions concerning his knowledge of the land - or lack thereof. "I've traveled extensively in Morrowind, including the Ashlands. Will you be joining the excursion?"

"Are you crazy? I'm a thief, not a pack mule. That's what she's going to use you for, believe me. I've raided smugglers' caverns with her a few times, and she will load your ass with everything she can stuff into your pack."

Chizrae rolled her eyes lightly. "I met Jiub on the prison ship that brought me to Morrowind. Other than a whiny-voiced wood elf named Fargoth, Jiub was the only person who would give me the time of day. I needed a place to live so I recruited him to help me clean out a nearby smuggler's cavern. We cleaned the place out completely because everything in there was worth _something_, and we both needed some coins in our pockets. But when I came across this place on my first trip to Vivec, we moved here instead - closer to bigger commerce."

"And what is this place?" Talvalo asked.

"A shrine to Azura. The actual shrine is across the water. There's a tunnel under the house from the cellar that leads to it." Chizrae finished peeling her orange to break apart the sections. "I think this used to be the caretaker's house, but it was abandoned and filled with dust when I found it."

Jiub straightened and folded his arms over the book at his chest. "Who am I to say no to an ex-priestess with longsword specialties offering free shelter?"

"Priestess?" Talvalo looked at the drow with surprise. "You didn't tell me you were a priestess."

"Because I'm not." Chizrae slid to the floor by the fire pit and reached for a bottle of water packed into a nearby barrel.

"Chiz here used to be a priestess of Lloth," Jiub informed Talvalo with a hint of dark mystery in his tone.

"Oh. Well, I'm not familiar with that deity, but if she's a priestess, that might explain why Azura chose her to take Nerevar's place in the prophecy concerning the Sixth House." Talvalo invited himself to sit down at the table opposite the thief. "What say you? Does she speak the truth concerning this Red Mountain affair? I have my doubts."

Jiub snorted in amusement at the question and leaned across the floor to grasp Chizrae's ebony hand and thrust it under Talvalo's nose. "See that ring? That is the Moon and Star. Azura cursed that ring so that only her beloved Nerevar could wear it."

The drowess frowned and jerked her hand back to herself. "I am _not_ Nerevar. And though I do honor Azura for all she has done for me during my stay in this world, I am no longer a priestess - not for anyone. I am a spellsword doing what I must to survive in this world. Nothing more."

Jiub leaned on the table facing her. "They say only a dark elf like no other could bear the soul of the betrayed general back from the grave. Only a dark elf like no other could lift the curse of the Sixth House. You happen to be a dark elf like no other, my dear," the thief reminded her in his gruff voice. "And word is spreading of your involvement. Your days as an ordinary spellsword are numbered; mark my words."

"I was betrayed all right, but I am not your legendary general," Chizrae muttered as she drank some water and ate her orange, while Talvalo reached for some water and an orange, as well.

Jiub chuckled at her irritation with his teasing. "What's wrong with a little fame and fortune? Vivec owes you _something_ for helping him out, doesn't he?"

"The fortune I'd be willing to take - if there was one. Otherwise, Vivec and I have an understanding."

Talvalo raised his brows at the absurdity in that statement. One does not "have an understanding" with a god. Who did this elf think she was? She might not have looked much like an ancient general who was friend to the gods of the Tribunal, but she certainly acted like one.

"Last chance. Are you coming with us to Molag Amur, or are you going to sit here with my cookbook and study how to make onion soup?" Chizrae challenged Jiub.

"Neither. But I shall bring us a plethora of onions to make said soup, if you wish? I know where I can find them ... cheap." The thief spoke in imitation of her new noble-bred acquaintance and gave her a rudimentary grin.


	2. Chapter 2: Dwemer Ruins

Chapter 2: Dwemer Ruins

The Ashlands were barren and rocky with no vegetation except an occasional brier bush and fire fern. Leafless, dead trees indicated that the region once used to be a forest, but the lava flow from Red Mountain had long since destroyed everything for miles around. Even with blue skies above, the air smelled of the ash and sulfur that vented out of the ground's natural chimneys.

Talvalo pulled out his map and unrolled the scroll against one of the thousands of rocks around them. "Nchleftingth, huh?"

Tired, Chizrae brushed a tendril of white hair from her ebony cheek and sat down against the rock next to the map. Looking over his arm, she watched his index finger trace their route so far. Then, she lifted her gaze to watch the intensity in his pale green eyes as he tried to determine the best passage. The irony did not escape her that thirty years ago she would have attacked him on sight and asked questions later. Of all the races on the surface of Faerun that the drow hated, they hated gold elves the most. Gold elves were the ones that cursed their ancestors and forced them underground - something the drow vowed never to forget, never to forgive.

"Have you ever been to Nchleftingth before?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"No, but I wrote down Edwinna Elbert's directions, and you have a good map. I'm sure you'll find it. That's what you promised when you sold yourself to me, right?" Chizrae passed him the note Edwinna had given her.

"You make it sound like slavery."

The drowess shrugged. "Slavery is legal here."

"Yes, but so is swimming naked in a lake full of slaughterfish. It doesn't mean I'll volunteer for it." Talvalo plucked the note from her hand and frowned slightly as he studied it. "No matter how good the directions or the map, the Ashlands are a nightmare to navigate. There's nothing out here except hungry predators and rocks - a _plethora _of rocks."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. Am I paying two hundred septims for information I already know? I won't pay you if you get us lost, you know. I can do that on my own for free," she caustically returned.

"Not to worry. Our path lies ... that way." He pointed toward the mountains.

Chizrae blinked at the enormous obstacles in their path. "Over it, or around it?"

"Well, it depends on what's more important to you - time or magic. Levitation magic can get us over it quickly, but it takes a tremendous amount of energy for such spells."

"I'm aware of that, too. Honestly, you are not worth two hundred septims."

Talvalo looked up from the note and scroll. "I'm only giving you advice because you haven't told me yet what you're capable of doing or knowing on your own. I had to find out second hand that you are a spellsword and an ex-priestess. But I don't even know whether that means you can cast heal spells, fire spells, or something utterly useless like fortify luck spells. For a woman, you're not very chatty, you know."

"And for a man, you are." Chizrae's brows dipped slightly at his complaint. "We should conserve our magic and take the long way around."

))((

Talvalo watched her straighten and head in the direction he had pointed. Sighing to himself at how much more difficult this contract was going to be than he first thought, he rolled up his map with the note and tucked them into his robe. Then, he hefted his shoulder sack once more and hurried to catch up to the drowess.

On a hill to the right, above her, the altmer thought he caught a glimpse of movement and cautiously drew his sword. It was impossible to tell whether he imagined it, though, because out in this wilderness everything was gray upon gray. At a distance, rocks could look like monsters and road posts could look like people. Sounds could echo in strange directions. Then, just as he was about to replace his sword in its scabbard, something streaked forward, bounding over the hill. This time, Talvalo recognized what it was immediately. "Chizrae!"

At his warning, the drowess turned to face the nix-hound just as it leaped from the hill onto her. She dodged the leap, drew a daedric longsword and sliced the animal in half with one strike. Talvalo stopped in his tracks a short distance from them and stared at the sword in her hand with disbelief. Chizrae stared down at the kill for a moment, but then sheathed the longsword and drew a dagger instead. Kneeling beside the carcass, she began to cut away fresh meat where it was exposed.

Talvalo quickly joined her and knelt over it from the opposite side. Prying his blade lengthwise beneath the creature's strong exoskeleton, he held it in a lifted position so she could saw at the tender flesh beneath. "That was rather impressive. What kind of magic is that sword enchanted with? It must be worth a fortune."

"It's called Spiderbite. I had it enchanted before heading into Red Mountain. It fortifies my strength, paralyzes the victim, and then sucks the very life from it with each strike, ... just like my very first enchanted sword that was a gift from my weapons master. When I couldn't find my weapon master's original sword, I was determined to make another one like it." Her crimson eyes lifted as she sliced the hound meat into manageable portions. "It's a personal item, and I wouldn't trust you with it as far as I could throw you."

"Did you enchant it yourself?"

"No. But I did milk my own spider venom for it and insist that it be used to cast the spell. Forager poison isn't nearly strong enough, and spider venom causes more pain." She turned her attention back to her work.

He found himself chuckling unexpectedly. "Milk a spider? Tell me, how many spiders does it take to get enough venom for a magnificent sword like that?"

"Only one."

"Big spider ..."

"Bigger than you." She lifted her chin again, but this time with a wry smirk at his expression. "Don't worry, that species isn't from around here. I may not know how to enchant items, but I grew up knowing how to handle spiders properly."

"Most little girls play with dolls or kittens, you know."

"Spiders are better than dolls or kittens. Our spiders ranged from very large to very tiny, and spider venoms of all kinds were readily available. I confiscated some from a wizard's desk in Guallidurth. Was saving it for making another Spiderbite ever since."

"So, ... you are from Guallidurth?"

"No, I am from Menzoberranzan. I volunteered to go to Guallidurth."

"But if you volunteered to go, you can't call it exile."

"I was exiled from Menzoberranzan." Chizrae continued to slice the meat away from the exoskeleton as she carefully chose her words. "The House I served in Menzoberranzan meant to execute me in battle, but after my attacker left me for dead, someone healed me. When I woke, I was in the cave of a large, green dragon. The dragon held me prisoner expecting me to warn him of treasure hunters looting his stash, or lure in adventurers who would try to rescue me. But he'd always win the battle. I was eventually freed by a group of vampire hunters that defeated him, so I traveled with them for a few years. When I finally got the courage to go home, I knew I would not be welcomed back, so I went as an exile to find the person that attacked me."

His brows rose. "An ex-priestess, a spellsword, dragon bait, _and_ you hunted vampires?"

"No, _they_ hunted vampires. I was just their guide through the tunnels because I can see in the dark. That's the only reason they allowed me to join them, when the dragon's illusionary magic died with him and they discovered I was a dark elf. But when one of their own members was infected with a vampire bite, I helped him hide his curse from the others while he tried to find a cure." She said it with a smirk, remembering something bittersweet. "Khyron _was_ eventually cured of his curse, and I went home."

"But, ... you're _here_ now." He pointed out the obvious.

Chizrae sat back on her heels as she drew a cloth from her back pack to wipe the hound's blood from her hands and dagger. "I trained in secret as a warrior against my mother's wishes that I become a priestess, and I trained with someone she did not want me to see. Then, we were accused of murdering the arch-mage of a rival house and stealing some Llothian artifacts - a couple of jade spider guardians given to Menzoberranzan by the goddess herself. We may have disobeyed my mother's orders concerning my training, but we did not do these other things. We were framed by another house so that our house would be condemned. To make a complicated story short, my entire house was destroyed, except for my brother and me. I left Menzoberranzan of my own will after that, and I have no desire to go back." She glanced up at the altmer to read his expression.

Talvalo was intent upon hearing the rest of what she had to say, but unsure of the accusations and politics. "I'm sorry to hear that. Is that when you came to Morrowind?"

"No. I roamed the surface of Faerun for a while before I was taken in by a priestess of Eilistraee. She needed a spy among Lloth's priestesses in the city of Guallidurth to undermine an uprising that was brewing, so I agreed to be her eyes and ears. But being back among Llothian culture, ..." She paused for a moment and slowly began to wrap the fresh meat in a waterproof cloth. "I was taken prisoner for heresy and treason, but the cook helped me escape to the wizard's lab where I found the portal to Oblivion. Then, I found myself in Cyrodiil, but then they sent me here." Chizrae stuffed the meat into her back pack.

"Do you intend to stay?" Talvalo stood, sheathed his sword, and wiped his hands on his robe.

Hefting her pack to her shoulder, she stood and faced the gold elf. "That depends."

"On what?"

"On whether I can feel like I belong here, even though I do not. From the moment I set foot in this world, it's been nothing but trouble for me. A thief picked my pocket when I first arrived in Imperial City, and when I tried to take matters into my own hands, I was arrested. I was shipped off to Seyda Neen and instructed to take a package to a skooma addict, only to discover that he was the head of the Imperial Blades in Vvardenfell. He later told me the Emperor wanted him to train me to pass the requirements of the Nerevarine Prophecy, since I have no origins here. They wanted me to kill Dagoth Ur for them because if anyone other than "the Nerevarine" tried it, the Empire would offend the native dunmer and not get their cooperation - which was very necessary to the task. Only the Nerevarine was supposed to be able to pass the trails and put things right at Red Mountain again. I didn't want to do it because I didn't like pretending at such a thing, and I felt it made the native dunmer look stupid for believing in me. I felt for sure they would kill me if they found out who I really was. But even Dagoth Ur believed I was Nerevar. He invaded my dreams and spoke to me directly - even sent his ash zombies after me to try to kill me in my sleep."

She paused for a moment, as if remembering those night hauntings. "It was either fight Dagoth Ur, or be consumed by him. So after Vivec himself told me what happened between the Tribunal, General Nerevar, and Dagoth Ur at Red Mountain, and he personally requested that I try to destroy Dagoth Ur and his Sixth House, I agreed. But, I agreed because what I really wanted was to be left alone with a little peace and quiet - to stop the blight and the dreams. I'm not afraid to die; but I will not live enslaved to another's will - not Dagoth Ur's, not the Empire's."

Talvalo absorbed her tale with quiet contemplation.

Chizrae sighed and looked down at her boots for a moment. Then, she shifted her gaze to the nix-hound's carcass and back toward the barren path ahead. "We'd better get moving. We're wasting time."

The altmer smiled lightly at her eagerness to drop the subject after realizing she had probably said too much. He smiled because he thought he saw a glimmer of softness, however brief, beneath that tough exterior for the short time that he did manage to get her to speak. Nodding in quiet acceptance of her commanding tone once more, he moved ahead of her to lead the way in the direction he had chosen before the hound attack. "As you wish, General."

))((

Chizrae remained silent for the remainder of their all-day trek through the bleak landscape. They had to fight off a few more starving predators, but they were taken care of as easily as the nix-hound.

Talvalo insisted on resting, instead of walking, through the night and built a campfire near the base of a multi-directional road sign in the middle of nowhere to be sure they didn't lose their way the following morning. He was just about to ask for the fresh meat to roast for their evening meal, when he caught her slicing into one of the rat steaks and eating it raw. "Are you so hungry that you can't even wait for it to cook?"

"Where I come from cooking meat is considered ruining it. We eat raw rothe, lizards, rats, fish …"

"Rothe?"

"It's like a ... woolly cow."

His brow quirked in curiosity. "Man-sized spiders that can be milked and cows with wool. I'm almost beginning to think it's worth the risk of Oblivion to see this place."

"Although, we did roast lizards on sticks over fireweed at carnivals." She set her bedroll on the rocky ground and settled on it, glad for the rest in spite of the night hours it would consume.

"Lizards on sticks ... That's disgusting." He took the rest of the meat before she could insist that it all be eaten raw and placed it over the hot stones with the glowing coals of trama root branches and dead wood in their campfire. "You get diseases eating raw flesh, you know. Half of the animals out here are diseased or blighted. Just because the skies over Red Mountain are cleared doesn't mean infected animals are suddenly healthy again."

"I gained immunity from those diseases after coming down with corprus and receiving an experimental cure. Besides, the animals where I came from were rarely diseased. Wood for fire was non-existent, and enclosed areas meant suffocation if there was poor ventilation for the smoke, so cooking over fire wasn't an option. Most fires had to be created from magic or natural resources, like fireweed."

"Then, why insist on keeping that cookbook if you're not going to cook what you eat?"

"I've learned to like cooked foods, but I still enjoy the things I ate as a child. Don't you?"

"_You_ were never a child."

Mildly insulted, she shifted her chin toward him.

"You're much too stern to have ever laughed at jokes or played in mud after a spring rain. I think you were born a grown woman and went straight to wielding swords and milking spiders."

She started to protest his off-hand commentary, but then reconsidered and lifted her eyes to the black outlines of the mountains against the starry sky. "I didn't even know what rain was," she quietly answered.

Talvalo was caught off-guard by the admission. "How could you not know what rain is?"

"Menzoberranzan is in an underground cavern deep below the surface of Faerun. I never saw the sky until I was promoted to Battlecaptain." Chizrae pulled her indigo cloak closer around her for warmth. "These Ashlands, ... so rocky and dark. They remind me a lot of the subterranean Wilds, except there's no rock ceiling here."

Talvalo noted the way the firelight brought out the natural luster of her skin, similar to the way that the sun creates a subtle rainbow on a blackbird's wing when the light hits it just right. Over the snapping and crackling of the campfire, he became aware of the creaking sounds of cooling rock deep in the ground beneath and around them. He checked the meat once more and then pulled a journal from his backpack, along with a quill and ink bottle. Lighting a small lantern with a blue candle, he positioned it on a nearby rock and sat down on his own bedroll to record the day's journey.

After a few minutes of enjoying that natural silence, Chizrae turned her attention to the battlemage once more. "What are you doing?"

"I always keep a journal of my travels. I remember things better when I write them down, and it's helpful sometimes if I should pass the same way or meet the same people twice."

The drowess lifted a brow. "And now you are writing about me?"

"I'm recording how you brought me out here in the wilderness to have your way with me."

Chizrae couldn't help but smirk lightly at his nonchalant mannerism in the face of such a bold context. "Well, I did need someone to throw into the ruins first to see if it was safe to enter."

"Glad to be of service. ... Although, that will cost you another two hundred septims."

"You haven't done anything to warrant your first two hundred yet."

"I've brought you this far, haven't I?"

"I had to fight off most of the animals along the way."

"Only because you didn't wait for me to help you out."

"If I'd waited, I'd be dead."

"Well, if I had a sword that could slice a kagouti in half with one stroke, perhaps I'd be a little quicker about it. But you're like a cliff racer on moonsugar the way you snap into action when there's something to kill."

"So I should stand there and be mauled while I wait for you to properly assess the situation? You should be grateful I'm even considering still paying you."

Talvalo ignored her and began his journal entry.

_28 Rain's Hand - Took a silt strider to Molag Mar with Chizrae V., a drow elf from a far land that, like her name, I can't even begin to pronounce. She's quite anti-social, but she claims to be the Nerevarine. Scratch that. She claims NOT to be the Nerevarine, but apparently she is, since she wears the Moon and Star ring. This tale should certainly raise a few eyebrows when I tell it. Now headed in a northeasterly direction around Mt. Kand into Molag Amur region. Minor predatory problems. Nothing unusual encountered, but no distinct landmarks either. Signs indicate we are right on track._

Chizrae propped herself on one elbow and watched him write in silence, but as she watched him, an idea came to her that she had not considered before. "Would you be interested in a chance to earn a few extra septims?"

Talvalo paused and looked up, twisting the quill between his fingers. "That depends."

"You have a way with words and seem to be of wealthy upbringing." Her voice trailed off as if leaving something unspoken.

The altmer speculated on where she was going with this as he relaxed his elbows on his knees. "Qualities that interest you?"

"Qualities that interest me very much, now that I've thought about it." She sat up and crawled near to him, leaning over his book.

He promptly closed it from her view. "Mmm, ... what did you have in mind?"

"Marry me."

The altmer's breathing stopped. "I'm ... sorry. I don't think I heard that correctly."

"You heard me."

"Well, ... what can I say? I-I'm flattered, but -"

"Don't be. It's a business proposal."

"_Marriage_? I barely know you. And frankly you're not all that much of a peach to be around twenty-four hours a day." Talvalo scooted back, but the drowess leaned forward again.

"There is a small, private island estate I've had my eye on for some time now off of the coast of Seyda Neen. It is secluded and peaceful - a place I could consider calling home. I have worked hard to save enough money to pay the owner's asking price, but he is a human who can't stand dark elves. He won't negotiate with me on the matter at all. However, I remember him saying that his wife was a gold elf. He had the estate built for her. I'm sure that if an upper-class gold elf asked to negotiate the deed, he would be much more willing to listen." Chizrae offered a smile along with her scheme and patiently waited for him to agree.

Now that she was finally smiling, though, Talvalo didn't seem sure that was a good thing. It was a cunning smile. "I don't mind talking to the man for you, but I don't understand why we have to be married."

"If we're married, then you can't claim the estate for yourself after you sign the deal for me. Once I have the deed in hand, we can divorce, I'll pay you, and you can be on your merry way."

"But if I sign the deed, then the estate is also legally mine."

She didn't like the sound of where he was heading with that. "Yes, but I'm the one putting up the money for it. It's my estate."

"So then, what you're really asking is ... how much it's worth for me to back out of ownership of a free estate once it's legally mine. I'd say that's worth at least half the asking price, don't you think?"

Chizrae smacked the journal from his hands to let him know what she thought of his perversion of her plan. "It's not going to be yours; it's going to be _mine_. I'm paying for it with every last coin that I have. You are only posing as the buyer in order to sign the deed and hand over the money. There is no way, I can afford to pay you half the asking price - nor would you deserve such an outrageous fee just for signing a piece of paper for me!"

Talvalo remained perfectly calm. "But it sounds to me like you won't be able to buy the estate without my help, so you're really out of bargaining chips on this one. I'll be nice and take 25%, instead."

The drow scowled at him. "Forget it. I'll find someone else."

Talvalo gave a laugh at the idea. "Who did you have in mind? Jiub?"

"One thief is as good as another."

"Ouch. Well, I did warn you I wasn't a paladin," he reminded her with a flick of his quill. "Surely there's some agreement we can come to on this. Does it have any assets other than the home itself?"

Chizrae tried to think through what she might be willing to trade. "There's an inn on the property. I'll let you have the inn. You can keep whatever revenue it makes."

"Who's going to stay at an inn on a secluded island?"

"There's guest houses scattered about the place. I could rent them out as vacation lodges."

Talvalo sat up with serious interest now. "An inn and guest houses? This must be a very large estate."

"Oh it is." Her eyes lit up like fire.

"In fact, it sounds large enough for me to actually take up residence there myself."

Chizrae's eagerness fell flat. "What?"

"I'll agree to get that deed signed for you, as long as you give me the inn and the guest houses. After all, you did say this was a business proposition."

The drowess frowned. This wasn't the kind of deal she had in mind at all. "If I give you the inn _and_ the guest houses, you must split the profits with me since I put up the collateral."

"Fair enough." He held out his hand. "Deal?"

"Deal." She accepted his handshake. "We'll go to Seyda Neen first thing when we get back and sign marriage papers at the excise and census office. Then, I'll show you where the estate is so you can talk to the owner and close the deal."

"What, no formal reception? My mother will kill me for eloping like that. Come to think of it, she's not going to be happy to hear I married a dead general." He winced slightly as if this were a serious problem to consider.

The drowess growled to herself and crawled back to her bedroll to curl under her cloak. Pressing her lips together in a flat line of annoyance, she turned her back to him. "Stand watch. I'm going to sleep."

Amused at her reaction, Talvalo picked up his journal again. "You would trust me to watch your back after what you just told me you have a hoard of money stashed somewhere? I could steal that marvelous sword of yours, do something terrible to you, and bribe Jiub to help me find your hiding place, you know."

"With a suggestion like that, you should be watching your own back, Talvalo," she muttered behind the edge of her cloak as she closed her eyes.

He couldn't tell if her threat was serious or sarcastic, but she clearly had no fear of his attempting to do such a thing, and he had no desire to meet Spiderbite's razor sharp edge in the dark of night. After tapping the quill against his chin for a quiet moment, he smirked to himself and finished scratching notes into his journal.

_Well, this has been an interesting day. Seems I'm going to be getting married, ..._

))((

Early the next morning, they took up their camping supplies and continued along a barely discernible path until they finally arrived at the dwemer ruins. Tall towers with mechanical doors half-buried in the surrounding lava cliffs, Nchuleftingth was an imposing site.

"Well, here we are, as promised. You owe me two hundred septims." Talvalo bowed lightly and gestured for Chizrae to lead the way from there. "After you."

"After you," the drow politely copied his gesture.

"Oh, after you."

"No, after you." She rested her hand on Spiderbite's hilt. "I insist," she added with a thin smile.

Talvalo realized she wasn't kidding, but he tried to remain pleasant. "If you kill me, I won't be able to purchase that deed for you."

"If I die, I won't have need for it."

Talvalo was slightly unnerved at how easily she ordered him to act as her shield, but he reminded himself this was part of the job, being a mercenary bodyguard. She had every right to make such a demand toward her own safety until the contract ended, and he had done little to aid her with the wild animals. So, he drew his sword and headed toward the tower. There, he entered the small, circular doorway alone, while Chizrae waited at the entrance.

Only when his long, slender frame was swallowed by the darkness and he was able to call back to her, did she deem it safe to enter. She winced slightly as he immediately lit a torch with a fire spell and held it aloft to get a good view of the rusty, bolted walls and floor. The dwemer race were extinct - destroyed in the eruption from Red Mountain - but their halls still hummed with the hissing and grinding sounds of machinery that had outlived their makers. Further down, the flickering sources of artificial light that they had used still glowed a faint yellow.

"Stay right," Chizrae advised him. "If you stay to the right in unfamiliar tunnels, you will always be able to find your way back." Following her own wisdom, she crept along the right-hand side of the corridor until she found a room where two humans stood speaking to one another in low tones. She kept her sword cautiously drawn, but straightened and approached them. "Senilias Cadiusus?"

The man and woman both looked up at the dark elf and her companion.

"I am Chizrae Velve'Xukuth. I've come on an errand from the Mages Guild. Edwinna Elbert of the Ald'ruhn faction would like news about an excavation report that she says is long overdue."

"Ah! Good to see you. Yes, very good to see you, Lady Chizrae." The man held out a hand and shook hers. "This is my daughter, Pania, and as you can see, we are both alive and well. Our native guide, Anes Vendu, however, might not be so lucky. He's the one who last had the excavation report. He took it with him and then disappeared. He might have found a way into the lower levels of the ruins. He has been missing for days, and we're beginning to fear the worst for him. Would you mind searching for him? Both of you appear to be better equipped for that sort of thing than we are."

Chizrae took one look at their dust-covered mage robes and compared them to the full-bodied armor that she and Talvalo wore. "We'll take a look around since he has the report that I came for. Do you have any idea where we could start our search?"

"Well," Pania spoke up with uncertainty. "He muttered something about a 'test of pattern' before he left. I think he was referring to the room full of machines down the corridor to the right." She gestured to the open hall behind Talvalo.

The altmer looked over his shoulder. "Thank you." He winked flirtatiously at the human woman and turned around, only to bang his forehead against the low circular entrance. "Ah! Damn. Short, grimy, little ..." He held a hand to his head for a moment, but held the rest of his curses concerning the dwemer to himself before remembering to duck and continue.

Being of rather petite build, Chizrae shook her head at his height and easily followed without having to contort her body to fit through.

Talvalo wandered the empty halls, shining a torch into the darkened cubbies that once used to be bedrooms. Now, they held only rusted bed frames - any mattresses or bedding had long been incinerated in the disaster that destroyed the place. "Ugh. I knew dwemer were nasty little creatures, but how did they live like this?"

"I thought you knew a thing or two about dwarven ruins. Are you telling me you've never been in one of these places before?"

"I said I knew a thing or two about the region. I didn't say anything about being an expert on dwemer."

"I should have known." She frowned slightly and walked past him to continue their search.

Talvalo started to follow on her heels, but his forehead immediately hit another low door sill. "Ah! Damn it." He winced and rubbed the new sore spot.

Chizrae looked over her shoulder, then shook her head again and continued on.

Talvalo followed her to the end of the passage, where they came to the source of the noise they heard upon entering. It was coming from a bunch of large, barrel-like machines under an eerie, yellow light.

The drow searched each one of them with curiosity but was careful not to touch anything. "What are they supposed to do?"

"Perhaps they're generating the lights." The altmer inspected them from the opposite side.

Chizrae found several cranks and grabbed one of them. "Still works," she marveled as she turned one and watched a segment of wall open behind Talvalo. "Looks like we've found the passage down to the lower levels." She looked back at the other cranks. "Unless ... there's more than one."

"One is good. Let's check it out first, and then we can come up and try the others if we don't find what we're looking for," he advised.

))((

Chizrae decided he was probably right about that. This time she went into the cramped tunnel first. No need for a torch, the drow's sensitive eyes fluctuated between normal vision and infravision, trying to detect tell-tale heat signs of life in the darkness. Under her feet blazed an inferno of white-hot lava that churned red in Talvalo's torch light. Sweat poured down her brow and beneath her armor as she followed the sounds of more clinking machinery. Gripping the hilt of Spiderbite tightly, she considered ordering Talvalo in front of her again, but he obviously couldn't see in the dark, or he wouldn't have used the torch, announcing their presence to anything hiding down there. And she had been in enough dwemer ruins to know there was always something hiding down there.

The drow had no sooner pondered which mechanical guardian would surprise them when a large, steam centurion swung a wrecking-ball fist toward her head from around the corner at the bottom of the tunnel. Chizrae threw up her shield to deflect the blow just in time, but it was so hard and heavy that she staggered back into the stairs and fell. Above her, Talvalo commanded a magic spell that sent bolts of lightning inches above her head into the contraption's body, sizzling its inner circuitry. Chizrae regained her footing and plowed forward into the machine with a growl, shoving her enchanted sword between one of the joints in the lower half, disabling its ability to walk. But when it fell, another one like it and a smaller sphere centurion rushed them from the dark shadows on the far side of the room.

"I've got this one!" the drowess shouted as she dodged behind the rotating, swiveling sphere centuring attempting to line up its aim on her. Side-swapping its gun-arm and rooting the sword-tip into the elbow-joint, she severed the limb. It started to attack with its other arm, but she slammed her shield into its path and pushed it backwards, knocking it onto the floor. Grinding her boot heel into its head to hold it still, she whispered a lightning spell and stretched out her hand to transfer the bolt of magic. The sphere centurion spasmed uncontrollably for a few seconds, but then fell limp and useless. When Chizrae looked up, Talvalo dusted off his hands while the second centurion steamed in a pile of buzzing, burnt circuits behind him.

"Ah, ... so you can use magic as well as a sword," he complimented.

"There ..." the drowess pointed, spotting the body of an ash-blue elf lying on the floor behind yet another broken sphere centurion and a book.

Talvalo approached the body with caution and crouched to pick up the book. "Looks like we've found Anes."

Chizrae came to his side and searched the Ashlander's body to find a scroll. Opening it, she could tell right away that it was the excavation report she had come to retrieve. "Well, at least we got what we came for, even if he didn't." She stood and glanced over the gold elf's shoulder at the book he held. "_Hanging Gardens_?" she read the title aloud. Taking it from him, she thumbed through it lightly. "Looks like gibberish."

"Yes, but it looks like very old gibberish. My bet is that's what he was looking for down here. Might be worth something. I suggest you take it back to Jiub and let him appraise it, since he had such a keen appreciation of your cookbook."

"Right. Well, let's see if there's anything else lying around here that we know would be worth something - like artifacts." She stepped over the body of the native dark elf and headed for a heavy trunk. Pulling a probe from her belt and begin trying to carefully spring the trap on the rusted lock.

"Chizrae, selling dwemer artifacts is illegal," Talvalo informed her as he watched.

"I know."

He sighed at her lack of concern for the law. "So, you're a spellsword, priestess, vampire hunter, _and_ a smuggler?"

"I already said I'm not a vampire hunter, and I'm no longer a priestess. But when you've traveled as much as I have, you learn to be versatile. Although, I do wish I had Jiub's golden touch with these damned contraptions." After several failed attempts and one broken probe, she finally succeeded at disabling the trap and picking the lock. Pushing open the lid, she lifted a jeweled, golden goblet from the trunk. "How else do you think I could afford to buy that manor? Besides, it's not like the dwarves are going to need this stuff anymore - they're dead."

"Then I suppose I shouldn't tell you I know magic that can open chests like that."

The drow looked over her shoulder in annoyance. "You couldn't tell me that before I broke the probe and wasted our time?"

"I was kind of hoping you'd break all the probes," he admitted.

Chizrae frowned at his comment, but then expectantly held out the goblets for him to take.

Talvalo sighed. "Jiub warned me about this." He tucked the book into his pack, moved to her side, and allowed her to stuff as many of the dwemer artifacts into their travel packs as would fit. "If we get arrested, I'm pointing at you."

"Just don't let Senilias see it, and no one will be the wiser." Chizrae flashed him a grin and stood, hefting her own heavy load onto her back once more. "What about those cogs? Can you fit them into your pack?" She pointed to the spoked items on a rusty shelf.

Talvalo blinked at the rusted wheel-shaped things lying on the floor. "You're kidding, right? Each one of those must weigh a ton."

"And they will be worth just as much."

"Why in the name of the gods would anyone want something like that? No one knows how to build or operate dwemer machinery except them."

"It can still be used as scrap metal. Someone could melt it down into armor."

"I'm not packing that cog."

"Well, I'm not coming back to get it later. We're taking it now."

"I won't be able to walk."

"But you did cast a mark spell on yourself before we left Vivec, right?"

"Of course."

The drow bent over one of the heavy cogs and lifted it, dumping it into his arms. He winced under the weight, but she patted his back. "Wait right here."

Talvalo's nose crinkled in distaste at the command. "What?" He waited until she was in the hall and dumped the heavy cog on the floor again with a loud, metallic thud. "I think not." Sitting down on one of the cogs, he rubbed his sore arms and waited.

Chizrae ignored the sound of the cog being dropped and walked back to the two excavators, where she reported to them about their guide's death. "Looks like he took down one of the sphere centurions before he went down, but there was more than one in there. He wouldn't have stood a chance against them alone, being unarmored like that."

"Well, we had feared as much." Senilias sadly shook his head. "Thank you so much for your help. Please, take the report to Edwinna right away. We must take Anes back to his family, and then continue our work here. Oh, by the way, would you happen to have news about what is happening at Red Mountain? We haven't had any blight storms in a couple of weeks, but we're rather isolated out here and, I was just wondering if ... if the dunmer prophecy about the Nerevarine -"

"The Sixth House is no more," she informed the excavators.

"Then, it's true? Oh!" The man smiled and looked at his daughter, who laughed and hugged him. "Praise be!" Senilias faced the dark elf and shook her hand. "Thank you. Thank you very much. I never would have believed it to be true, but apparently it was. The Nerevarine will be taking up a pedestal beside Vivec now, I suppose."

Chizrae's lips pressed into a thin line to avoid saying more about it. "My partner and I will be leaving now, if there is nothing more that you need."

"Nothing more. Thank you again," Pania answered and shook her hand.

Chizrae returned to Talvalo at the bottom level of the ruins and picked up the cog once more to place in his arms. "We're going to use a teleporting spell to return."

"Not in here. We might materialize in a wall or something."

"You know, I could have done this without you for all the help you've been."

"Ah, but you wouldn't have had as much fun."

Chizrae sighed and helped him carry the heavy cog back up the stairs, kicking the door open to leave the ruins. Though clouds were beginning to cover the blue sky, she winced at the sudden brightness of the daylight. "_Now_ can we teleport back?"

"Yes, but I still don't see who would want this dirty thing."

"A dirty scamp. He'll take anything that qualifies as a relic."

"So where's my two hundred septims? They didn't pay you? When I agreed to this little quest, you didn't tell me my profit would be in black market goods."

"Once I sell all this stuff back in Caldera, I'll pay you."

Talvalo paused for a moment, as if trying to discern whether she was being truthful or scamming him. "Would that be before or after the honeymoon?"

Chizrae uttered a sound of disgust and cast a recall spell on herself, disappearing before he could argue further.

))((

Talvalo sighed and wove his own recall spell around himself. After the magic teleported him to the old, weathered dock outside of the abandoned shrine on the outskirts of Vivec, she was already there waiting for him and the incredibly heavy piece of junk in his arms. "You know, you can carry this thing inside if you want it that badly. Otherwise, I'm leaving it right here," he warned.

"Fine, then. Leave it here. We'll come back for it later." The drowess turned to walk away.

The altmer dumped the heavy cog on the planks with a thud and stretched his aching back and arms with a groan once the burden was lifted. Then, he dusted his hands and turned to walk back to the shrine with Chizrae, when suddenly there was a creak, a sound of splintering wood, and a loud splash. Both elves turned and stared open-mouthed at the gaping hole in the dilapidated dock.

Chizrae gave Talvalo an accusing glare.

"You said leave it here. It's not my fault it fell through," he defended himself before she could say anything.

The drowess stepped forward and cautiously leaned over the hole. Talvalo joined her at the edge to see the cog on the sandy bottom of the bay. It wasn't so deep that it couldn't be retrieved again, but there was a long slaughterfish tail sticking out from beneath one corner of it.

Satisfied, she shrugged and walked past the high elf without thanking him. "Good riddance."

Talvalo shook his head and followed her, already mentally protesting the idea of diving in after it, should she suggest it. "I should charge her four hundred septims for that."


	3. Chapter 3: Trust No One

Chapter 3: Trust No One

The old, red book was placed on the low table. Jiub skeptically looked up at the altmer and drow that brought it and then drew it toward him. "_Hanging Gardens_?" He ran a hand over the worn and stained cover before carefully opening it and skimming the pages.

"Talvalo found it on the body of the dunmer that was killed in the lower level of the ruins." Chizrae had already stripped off her armor and shoved it into a trunk before helping Talvalo remove the confiscated items from his pack.

"It's definitely something unique, but I couldn't tell you what it is or what it's about. I'd show it to Edwinna when you report back to her. If she's doing research on the dwemer, she might be able to make sense of it. Don't sell it," Jiub advised in his gruff voice. He placed the book back on the table with care and took note of the other items following it out of the back pack. One disgruntled look from Talvalo, however, brought a grin and a low chuckle from the thief. "Told you so."

"You gave me fair warning, yes," Talvalo agreed. "She even made me bring a large cog."

The multiple-pierced bridge of Jiub's nose crinkled slightly. "Cog? What for?"

"I don't know," Talvalo quickly echoed his sentiments. "It's at the bottom of the bay, and it can stay there for all I care."

"Every coin that I can pinch from these excursions counts," Chizrae defended her greed. "You want to get paid, don't you?"

"Not in scrap metal and slaughterfish scales."

"Chizrae hoards treasure like a dragon." Jiub shifted his position to begin sorting through the items on the table, pushing them into piles of what to sell, and where. "She sees gold in every wooden spoon and every scrap of cloth she can find, and she will collect it until she has enough to convert it into cash."

"It comes from having to start over with absolutely nothing," she inserted.

"It comes from living like a spoiled brat and then having to live like normal people."

Chizrae's eyes narrowed on the dunmer. "You have no idea -"

"I know enough." Jiub gave her a cautious glance, but then he continued organizing the mess on the table. Chizrae let his comments go and gathered the alchemy ingredients to store in the barrels behind the fire pit. Jiub pushed the dwemer items toward Talvalo. "Those will go to Creeper."

"Creeper?" Talvalo repeated the name with uncertainty. "One of your _business associates_, I presume?"

Jiub's eyes reflected mild amusement at the high-bred altmer's tone of dissaproval. "Put those back in your sack. Go back to Caldera with Chizrae, and she will give you your money once she's pawned them. Arrille in Seyda Neen will take the smaller items." He looked over his shoulder to the drow. "I'll be heading that way tomorrow if you want me to take them for you."

Chizrae looked to Talvalo before shifting her attention back to Jiub. "Will you be staying in Seyda Neen, or coming straight back?" She put the last of the alchemy ingredients away.

"Staying a couple of days - people to meet and things to do." He cast a side glance toward Talvalo, baiting him to come right out and say what he thought of their little operation. "You know how it is."

"We'll head out with you tomorrow," the drow decided. "You can take these items to the Tradehouse, and we will meet you there on our way back. We'll finish the errands related to this job before discussing new ones."

Jiub wasn't sure he caught that correctly. "He's coming back with you?"

"Yes."

"Why? You don't need a guide in this region," he mildly protested. "If you take on a new partner, we'll have to start splitting things with him. The more partners, the smaller the slices of the pie to go around. And I, for one, won't be giving up my portion of the spoils so that he can continue to dress like the Duke's whipping boy."

Talvalo looked down at his ornate red robe and silver armor. "I beg your pardon. I am not anyone's whipping boy, and I'm not becoming part of your little scam operation. I'm not her guide anymore, you know. I'm her fiancé."

Jiub's eyes narrowed slightly. This time he was certain he couldn't have hear that correctly. "Fiance?"

The battlemage enjoyed the surprised expression that news drew from the thief. "Chizrae asked me to marry her."

Jiub snorted in amusement at the ludicrous statement. "She did not."

"Yes, she did."

"Chizrae wouldn't ask _anyone_ to marry her, much less some high-class pop-tart like you."

Talvalo decided to humor the thief by playing the stereotypical aristocrat card in dry response. "Now, now, ... no need to be jealous, my good man. I know this sweet-tempered angel is quite the catch. I didn't mean to steal her from you, but she couldn't resist my charms out in that romantic landscape."

Jiub looked over his shoulder at the "angel" and chuckled. Chizrae scowled at the altmer for his flowery sarcasm. Satisfied, Jiub turned back to the battlemage. "What the hell were you sniffing while you were out there? Did you get some bad skooma?"

Talvalo tried not to smirk. "Careful. Say the wrong thing, and she might not invite you to the wedding."

The dunmer fell back against the wall with laughter. After a moment, he calmed and sat up again to wipe a tear from his eye. "Okay, that was funny. You win that one."

The drow folded her arms at her chest and moved to stand before the dunmer with a cool expression. "And just _what_ is so funny about it?"

Jiub's laughter paused at her approach. That's when he seemed to realize she wasn't denying any of this. "Wait, you're serious?"

Talvalo merely smiled like a hare who had outwitted a fox.

Jiub faced Chizrae again. "He's serious? You can't be serious! You can't marry him!"

"He's not so bad. He called me an angel." She smiled sweetly toward the altmer, but then frowned pointedly at Jiub and gave the back of his shaved head a smart slap before walking into the back bedroom to change clothes.

The thief winced and rubbed the back of his head. "You see? You see what you're in for? You're fucking insane to say yes to that."

Talvalo glanced toward the shut bedroom door and leaned on the table, lowering his voice. "Tell me, ... what do you know about this estate that she's wanting to purchase?"

The corner of Jiub's mouth twitched a little. "What estate?"

Talvalo's brows lifted. She had not told Jiub about the estate. He winced slightly at his mistake for mentioning it prematurely. "It's, em, ... nothing." He waved it off. "Just something she mentioned that she's been wanting for some time now."

The thief regarded the battlemage with suspicion as he stood and walked to the bedroom door. "What estate?" he demanded of the drow through it.

After a momentary delay, Chizrae popped open the door to meet Jiub face-to-face. "I want an estate off the coast of Seyda Neen on a private island." Then she sighed toward Talvalo. "Idiot, altmer," she grumbled and collected a fresh change of clothing from her trunk.

"You want an estate." He said it as if he were used to receiving wish list items from her. "I can't steal an estate for you, Chiz."

"You don't have to. I'm going to buy it. Everything will be legal so no one can take it from me."

"And what do you propose to buy it with? Racer plumes?"

"I've saved a portion of money from every job that I've done here, and Talvalo is going to sign the papers, since the owner doesn't want to sell it to a dark elf."

"You saved money? Our money?"

"My money - only my half of the profits," she corrected with irritation.

"How much money?"

"I've been wandering for thirty years, Jiub. I want a home."

"So, you're just using him to get the deed. What does he get out of it?"

"An inn, some guest houses, and the profits they make, ... if any."

Jiub shook his head in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me about this? I've been working with you ever since we first came here together -"

"The owner will not sell to a dark elf - not me, not you," Chizrae firmly interrupted him. "I need Talvalo to sign the deed for me. He wants the inn, and I don't really care for it anyway. All I want is the main house and the island itself. Besides, if he was quick enough to ask for it, then he's probably sharp enough to operate it in a manner that it could turn a profit."

"And what do I get out of this? You wouldn't have been able to save money if not for me handing you 'found' items on a silver platter," he reminded her.

"I have a position in mind for everyone who has traveled with me at some point. But I must have that deed before I make promises that I can't keep."

"And my position would be ...?"

"You get to be head of security. It's a private island that has been fortressed to keep intruders out. You can set traps as well as disarm them, and you know how to dig up information on anyone that wishes to enter." She lowered her voice slightly. "I don't want anyone on that property unless they have been personally invited and thoroughly patted down."

Jiub regarded his companion with full understanding of what motivated her desire for privacy. "The Nerevarine will be in demand for anyone wanting a hero. You can't run from that, Chiz."

"I spent my early years bowing in obedience to house authority, only to be sacrificed and hunted down like an animal. The only reason I am no longer fugitive is the fact that my house was destroyed by another noble house. Then I was asked to sacrificed myself to another noble house to be hunted down, imprisoned, and tortured. I came here to get away from all that, and what do I get? Yet another authority asking me to sacrifice myself to another noble house hunting me down like an animal, all because of some stupid prophecy that singled me out to be the hero. I'm tired of it. I will not spend one moment in the public eye accepting Nerevar's mantle, so that I can become a target again. Do you understand? The Nerevarine is a legend - a myth. I want it to stay that way."

Having witnessed the paranoia she endured going through the Nerevarine trials, Jiub had to accept her reasoning on that matter. "Do I get a paid for this position?"

"Small provision; free room and board at one of the guest houses or inn - your choice." She glanced toward Talvalo, who was running a finger over the encrusted jewels on a dwemer goblet as he listened to their conversation without interrupting.

Jiub pursed his lips as he considered it. "I don't suppose you'd tell me where the stash is."

The drow leaned close to his ear so that her voice was barely above a whisper. "If I told you, ... then I would have to kill you." Chizrae drew back and crossed the floor. Sliding open the door, she went down to the marsh to bathe away the grime from the Molag Amur trip.

))((

Jiub glanced toward Talvalo and crossed the floor to close the door behind her. He was clearly unhappy with the altmer becoming an additional member in their partnership, but if the drow had made up her mind, there was no changing it.

"Looks like I'm going to be your landlord." Talvalo gave him a dry smirk and stood to search a barrel for something to drink.

"Just keep your nose out of my business," the thief flatly warned.

With his back turned to him, the battlemage took the threat in stride. "As long as it's not conducted at my inn, gladly."

The dunmer studied the taller, lighter-skinned elf for a moment. "You're not who you say you are, ... are you?" he guessed.

"Do a background check on me, if you have doubts. Look up my credentials at the guilds. Check me for illusion magics." Talvalo shrugged as if it was no skin off his back to be heavily scrutinized.

"You wouldn't be making that kind of contract with someone like her if you really were some high and mighty noble."

"Hm." Talvalo found a bottle of common wine in their stash and pulled the cork on the bottle to sniff it. "Sounds like you don't think very highly of her."

"Do you?" Jiub turned the accusation back on him.

Talvalo pondered the question for a moment, and then turned to face the thief. "She's attractive and intriguing - a bit harsh at times, but I think I can see a bit of something genuine beneath it all."

Jiub gave a cynical snort. "You don't know very much about her, do you? She's a drow. She used to kill elves like you, ... just for the hell of it. I'll bet she didn't tell you that before you volunteered to sign a deed for a private island bought with her money?"

"Buying the estate was her idea - not mine. She really seems to have her heart set on the place. Yes, I saw an opportunity to gain a substantial investment for practically nothing, but as a shrewd businessman yourself, I can't imagine you doing anything different had you been in my shoes. Let's face it; we're both opportunists. You're just upset she asked me for help, even though you would have laughed in her face."

Jiub frowned slightly at the subtle edge on that response. "Look, I don't like you, but I'll give you fair warning. If you're thinking of taking her money and running, you won't live to see it through. She'll kill you. And if by some miracle she can't, ... I will."

"Likewise," the altmer promised with a cool smile. He poured some of the wine into a nearby cup and then gave it a swirl and tasted it. "More sour than sweet," he commented with a slight wince as he swallowed it. "But that makes the sweet all the more desirable, does it not?" He poured a little more and set down the bottle. "Cheers."

Jiub watched the gold elf drink down the wine, but he remained skeptical of his motives.

))((

The sun rose over the horizon of the Ascadian Isles, and the city of Vivec became awash in pink and blue as a new spring day opened up for the trio getting ready to hit the road. They paused at the ornate water fountain at the base of the Foreign Quarter canton to fill their wine skins when another altmer approached with the same intentions. She was tall and thin like all members of her gold-skinned race, with pale green eyes like Talvalo. She had luxuriously long, pale-blond hair, and dressed in a velveteen robe adorned with jewels. "Good morning," she spoke - mainly to Talvalo - as she prepared to refill her water skins. "It's a fine day for travel, wouldn't you agree?"

"Watercolors capturing dreams across the skies," he poetically answered with an appreciative smile. "Are you heading out on the road, too?"

Jiub rolled his eyes and gave Chizrae an intolerant expression.

"I am. I'm heading to Seyda Neen," the female altmer answered.

"What a coincidence. We're heading there, too. Would you like to walk with us?" Talvalo proposed without consulting his companions.

"Well, I ..." She blushed at the invitation and the charming tone in which it was delivered.

One high-brow gold elf in their company was enough. Chizrae opened her mouth to challenge Talvalo's offer, but she was cut short by Jiub.

"It might be safer than traveling alone. There's bandits on the roads these days, you know," he interrupted in a pleasant tone, as he reached for the female altmer's water skin and offered to fill it for her.

Talvalo gave him a mild frown for cutting in on his attempt to impress their new acquaintance.

Chizrae blinked at the dunmer in disbelief. Words of warning about bandits from a thief? Great. Now both of them were flirting with the elegant altmer.

The other woman considered their offer. "Well, ... if you're sure you wouldn't mind …"

"Not at all," Talvalo answered with a pleasant smile.

"Not in the least," Jiub agreed, handing back her filled container. "My name's Jiub."

"And I'm Talvalo."

Chizrae grunted in disgust and squeezed between them to thrust her water skin into the fountain's sparkling flow.

"My name is Selena. I'm an alchemist," the new elf introduced herself. "I make some of the best potions in all of Morrowind, but I'm afraid I have to travel often in order to find merchants willing to sell them in their shops. They're expensive because the ingredients and time spent making them are more costly than what's commonly available. It does make it difficult to find buyers, though."

"Potions?" Chizrae's attitude shifted slightly and she turned to face Selena as she capped her water skin. "What kinds of potions?"

"Well, ... I have an excellent Potion of Eloquence for sweetening tongues and sharpening appearances." Selena produced a list from her pocket and offered it to the drow.

Wondering what was wrong with her appearance, the drow touched a hand to her thick, white mane that had been woven into a simple, convenient braid for travel. She could tell that sparse, unruly fringes had fallen loose around her eyes and the sides of her face. Then she looked down at her common brown pants, green blouse, and dusty, worn boots. Deciding she had done the best she could on the budget she had, she unceremoniously plucked the list from Selena's hand. "I don't need tongue-sweetening," she coolly answered and skimmed through the list of potions and prices.

Talvalo smirked at the obvious offense in the drow's curt response. "Chizrae's tongue is poetic irony itself," he explained to Selena. "Her words are like a rose sculpted of ice - beautiful because she appears to be so delicate, untouchable because of the frosty thorns, and yet worthy of admiration because of her ability to remain strong against any ordinary warmth."

Jiub chuckled. "Please. Chizrae's words are more like icicles - pointed and full of grit. In fact, her whole mouth needs to be washed out with soap on occasion."

He had no sooner made the joke at her expense when the drow grabbed him by the shirt collar and jerked down level with her cheek. He winced and threw up his hands in self-defense, but instead of angrily venting on him for his comment, she shoved the potions list under his nose. "Look at this!" she hissed. "Look at these potions she can make. Do you realize how powerful these potions are?" Chizrae released her thief and stepped around him to face the alchemist. "Would you be willing to teach me how to make these potions? I can make it worth your while."

"Oh ... Oh, I don't really think ... I'm sorry, but they're special formulas - family secrets and long, long hours of research in the lab. I couldn't possibly share them," Selena politely declined.

Talvalo slipped the formula list from Chizrae's hand and scanned it. He was equally impressed. "Selena, what would you say to an exclusive contract? I'm going to be purchasing an inn. If I can sell these potions at the inn - if I'm the only one who sells them - you might end up in higher demand than a Telvanni wizard, ... and you won't have to travel anymore. You can stay in one place, and the customer will come to you."

Selena blinked in disbelief at her luck. "You would buy my whole stock?"

"I would." Talvalo hooked his arm in Selena's and began to walk with her down the steps away from the city of Vivec. "Have you ever considered renaming some of your potions for better marketing? A Potion of Eloquence could be changed to something like ... a 'Bard's Cordial'."

"Oh, my. That does sound delicious, doesn't it?" Selena marveled at the idea and began telling Talvalo about her other potions in hopes he could create similar fascinating names for them as well.

Acknowledging the silver-tongued battlemage had won the battle for Selena's attention, Jiub gave a cynical snort and fell into step with Chizrae a few paces behind them. "Two peas in a pod, aren't they? He thinks he can recite poetry and wrap women around his pinky finger. At least you're not idiotic enough to fall for it the way some do. All that nonsense about you being a rose …"

The drowess hadn't been paying attention to Talvalo's prattle while she was reading the potions list. He had called her a rose? "Look at the bright side. You get to have her all to yourself when you get to Seyda Neen. Stay with her and do what you can to convince her to give us exclusive rights to these formulas."

"I'll do what I can, but I think she's already quite taken with your fiancé." He watched the pair of gold elves walking ahead of them. "If I were you, I'd divorce his ass as soon as you get that deed signed. You don't know anything about him to be taking him on as a partner in this kind of thing."

She cut a side-glance toward him with a wry smirk. "I didn't know anything about you when we first met."

"At least you knew I was a thief. Why would someone like him be working as a mercenary instead of sitting back on his inheritance? He's hiding something. I don't trust him."

"There are many sayings about trust where I come from. '_Khalass nau uss._' ... 'Trust no one.' ... '_Jal khaless zhah waela_.' ... 'All trust is foolish.' ... '_Khalass nau uss mzild taga dosstan._' ... 'Trust no one more than yourself.' ... I don't trust anyone - not even you." She glanced at him again, but then turned her chin to focus on the pair of altmer ahead of them. "I realize my risks with trusting both of you; but both of you have your uses, and life is not without its risks. You see, there is another saying where I come from. '_Ser dosst abbilen veir, drill dosst ogglinnar tangis' veirs_.'"

"Which means nothing to me."

"It means, 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer.'"

"So, I'm an enemy. Is that it?"

"Your skills have earned my respect, and I enjoy your company. We are both benefiting from this partnership, so it would be stupid of you to betray me. However, I'm not so stupid to deny the possibility that you might."

"And him?" the thief gave a nod toward the battlemage.

"I need him to purchase my deed, and he seems to have a good head for business. I can always dispose of him if he causes problems."

"He's not a street rat like me, Chiz. You don't dispose of a altmer noble and no one be the wiser for it, ... if he really is a noble, that is. I'm going to check his credentials when I get to Seyda Neen. Something's not right about him."

Chizrae glanced toward her companion with wry amusement. "Jiub, sometimes I think you are perfectly drow beneath that blue skin of yours." She could tell the thief wasn't sure if that was a compliment or an insult.

))((

Rain was pouring in sheets by the time Chizrae and Talvalo made it back to Caldera. They had parted ways with Selena and Jiub at the crossroads between Pelagiad and Seyda Neen, when it had only begun to sprinkle. The rest of the journey had been a wet, miserable experience, and now it was becoming unbearable. At the south gate, Chizrae broke into a run toward Ghorak Manor, and Talvalo followed her trail through the mud. The manor house was stately looking from the outside; the inside was a different matter. It was dry, but smelled of orcs. The furniture was broken and in disarray. Empty beer and wine bottles littered the floor and shelves.

"You've got to be kidding," the altmer whispered low to the drow. "I wouldn't drag my worst enemy into this filth, and you intend to sell them those beautiful dwemer artifacts?"

"Perhaps I wouldn't have to sell the beautiful artifacts if _someone_ had agreed to bring the cog," she testily answered.

"There is no way I could have carried that monstrosity all the way here - not unless you volunteered to be the trundle that I dragged it on."

Chizrae ignored the comment and marched up the stairs to her point of contact - a scamp. "Creeper, I have some items for you today."

Talvalo thought the small daedra resembled a scrawny cat, naked of all of its fur. He was disgusted at the idea of conducting business with it, but he set the backpack at the drow's feet to let her conduct the bartering.

The scamp grinned and greedily rubbed his bony hands. "Chizrae, Chizrae ... It's good, good to see you again. Chizrae wants something to drink?" the creature asked, holding up a sujamma jug from the broken down wine case nearby.

"I only want an exchange, and I'll be on my way." Chizrae untied the bag and opened it with a jerk to fish out the first valuable item - a jeweled goblet.

The scamp accepted it and eagerly turned it over in his hands to inspect its worth.

The drow turned to the altmer and spoke low. "I've got to get out of these wet clothes. Just pass him the items as he asks for them, but don't make any offers," she ordered. "I'll be right back."

Talvalo watched her head past a female orc that warily tracked her movement into a nearby bedroom. Then, he sighed and handed a dwemer bowl to the scamp who growled and purred over the items in a very annoying manner. When he handed the last item in the bag to the demonic little entrepreneur, Chizrae returned to his side. He was astonished to find she was wearing a pale blue, silk gown, but her long, white hair had been unbraided and was plastered damp against her cold face. "Well, that's a fancy new look for you. Are we going to a costume ball at the governor's hall next?"

"It was supposed to be for bartering with shop owners in Ald'ruhn when buying supplies. They're more likely to speak with me if I dress a bit higher class, but right now this happens to be the only dry thing in my bag." She let go of her long dress train and turned her attention to the scamp. "I want three thousand for the whole lot."

"Would you like two thousand?"

"No, I would like three thousand."

"I can give you two thousand and some skooma and a drum."

"I have no use for skooma and a drum. I will take nothing less than what they're worth, and altogether that bag is worth three thousand septims. Jiub appraised it for me, so that you wouldn't cheat me out of anything."

"For two thousand, the skooma is good, good quality. And the drum is good, good sound. Chizrae looks like she wants some skooma and drum. But for _three_ thousand, you could bang my drum, yes?" The scamp wriggled its eyebrows and ears.

Chizrae snarled at what the smelly creature was suggesting, and her dark hands clenched into fists. "No, I do not want to bang your drum!" She snatched him up by his throat. "I want three thousand for the goods, or I'm reporting you to the Imperial Legion."

The Creeper gave a strange, half-strangled, hissing kind of laugh. "And if they come after me, do you think I go down alone?"

The drowess considered the threat and released the creature in a rather rough manner. "Two thousand five hundred."

"Without favors, two thousand. Take it or leave it."

"She'll take it," Talvalo interceded, anxious to get out of there.

Her chin snapped toward the altmer with a threatening glare. "No, I won't. Don't speak for me when I'm making deals."

"Two thousand is enough for now. Just -"

"No deal!" she snapped at the scamp and quickly stuffed everything back into Talvalo's pack. Then, she hefted it onto her shoulder and headed back down the stairs.

Talvalo was at a loss for words. Lifting her pack, he hurried down the stairs after her. "Chizrae, you can't turn down that offer. No one else in town will pay that much. In fact, someone else is likely to report us for even possessing the damned things. Two thousand is enough to cover my pay. You owe me for the Molag Amur trip, remember? Something is better than nothing. Let me go talk to him, okay? I'll see if we can't work something else out."

"After what he just suggested? I should slit the bastard's throat for even thinking it!" She pushed open the door against the wind and rain and marched out into the elements.

Talvalo sighed in frustration, but followed her through the mud, back across the main road toward the tavern. Inside Shenk's Shovel, where they first met, he tried once more to reason with her. "If you're going to do business with a scamp, you should expect that kind of behavior. You should be willing to bargain with him on his terms. You asked me to marry you for the sake of a business deal."

She stopped and abruptly turned to face him. "Our marriage deal includes nothing of that sort. It's paperwork only. What kind of favors do you think he wants for the entire three thousand?"

"Well, ... I think it's pretty clear what he wanted for the full three thousand, but maybe at twenty-five hundred a kiss would suffice?" he helpfully added.

"You want me ... to kiss a scamp ... and not even get my money's worth for those recovered items?" Chizrae shook her head in disbelief and pushed past him to sit down at one of the tables and rest.

Talvalo shrugged and followed. "He likes you. You should take advantage of it. Milk him for four thousand if he wants you that much."

The drowess slammed both fists on the table. "_Nau! Vel'bol valyrin d' biu mal'ai xun dos talinth Usstan tlun, dos fa'la zatoast?_"

Immediately conscious of the stares they were receiving from the other patrons for her outburst, Talvalo reached across the table to cup a hand over her mouth and quiet her temper. "Okay, okay, sshhh! Just hear me out, okay? All I'm saying is that two thousand is a lot, and we desperately need it. If we go back now and apologize, asking for that price instead of the other, you won't need to do anything unsavory."

The drowess pried his hand away. "And what if he demands favors just to open negotiations again? Would you be willing to make the offer? If so, you should give him a good, long, wet one. Maybe he'll even give you five thousand for it, ... if you're any good."

Talvalo drew back in disgust. "Okay, that was totally uncalled for. It will take weeks to dismiss that visual from my mind."

Chizrae's blood-red eyes narrowed. "I've done a lot of questionable things in my life. There was the demon at the priestess initiation, the noble house parties, and the vampire affair. But I am not selling myself out to that repulsive creature!"

"Demon? Really?" Talvalo considered ask for details, but then decided, based on her current mood, it probably wasn't a good idea. "Nevermind. Point taken. Of all the daedra out there scamps tend to be the most greasy." The altmer sat back in his chair and let his chin fall into his hand, matching her scowl perfectly. Silence settled between them for a moment, and Talvalo looked around the room, as he did when he first decided he wanted to meet the drow. He couldn't help but wonder how things would have turned out differently if he had chosen to offer his services to the Breton, instead. Then, with a sigh of resignation, he leaned forward to address the offended spellsword once more. "Look, it's late and we've been on the road for two days. We're cold, wet, and tired. Let's just stay here for the night, and try again tomorrow."

"Tomorrow we need to be on our way to Ald'ruhn. I need to deliver this report to Edwinna."

"Then, we'll try again on the way back. Or we'll try at a different shop. It doesn't matter when or where. Actually, though, ... such rare artifacts ... If I were you, I'd keep them for myself. It's an accomplishment with a good story behind it, you know?"

Defeated, Chizrae stared at the table. "What about your pay?"

Talvalo forced a small, almost pained laugh. "It's only money, right?"

"Spoken like a true aristocrat," she groused and stood. Moving to the bar, she flagged the owner of the establishment. "How much is a room for one night?"

"Ten septims per room per night," Shenk answered.

The drowess pulled her coin purse from her belt to count what she had and deposited the correct amount into his hand. In exchange, she received a room key.

Talvalo was right behind her and also counted out his fee to pay for a room.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir." Shenk held up a hand. "She just took the last room. We're pretty booked tonight because no one wants to camp on the road in this weather."

Talvalo tried to smile pleasantly in spite of the bad news. "Surely there's some place I can stay. A storage room perhaps?"

"Security measures being what they are, I'm afraid not. We close up at midnight, so I would suggest you head back toward Balmora and ask at the inns there. They have more options to choose from anyway."

"I'm not walking back to Balmora in this downpour. I'm already soaked to the bone as it is."

Chizrae chuckled darkly to herself at his ill fortune. "You could always go back to Creeper and ask for a nice warm bed. I'm sure he and his orc friends would enjoy the company of a fine elf for the evening." The drowess flipped her long, wet hair over her shoulder and picked up her bag.

Talvalo thrust an arm out to block her retreat. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To _my_ room." She pushed his arm away and headed toward the stairs.

The altmer gave up bargaining with the innkeeper and rushed to the stairs ahead of her to block her path again. "You said you would share provisions until you could pay me. You owe me two hundred septims. Since you can't pay me, we share the room."

"By 'provisions' I meant 'food'."

"You didn't specify. It usually means whatever travel expenses are needed, and I need a room for the night. At least I'm not demanding favors of you like one of your more questionable business partners."

"No, but you did try to pawn me off on him."

"No, I didn't! I tried to accept his best offer that _didn't_ include favors," he argued.

"Which was unreasonably low. You nearly cheated us out of a thousand septims for the sake of two hundred."

"If I had ordered the room first, I'd be willing to share it with you - even though you haven't paid me yet - because I know that you're tired and need the rest."

"That only means you're a gullible idiot."

Talvalo sighed heavily at her stubborn refusal and folded his arm across his chest in an equally stubborn gesture. "I'm not sleeping in the street, Chizrae. You owe me this room, and you know it."

The drow's crimson eyes remained focused on him without blinking. "I'll share the room if you dock it from your pay."

"What?"

"It's worth ten. If I share it with you, then I only owe you one hundred and ninety septims. Deal?"

Lips pressed together in a thin line, Talvalo snapped his coin pouch from his belt, fished out five septims and held them out to her. "To share the room would be five each, right? Here's my five."

"Well, if you're going to be picky about it ..." She frowned, took the coins, and headed past him up the stairs.

Talvalo's shoulders slumped with relief that the battle had been won. He shook his head at her stinginess, closed the strings on his money pouch, and refitted it to his belt. Then, he hefted his shoulder pack once more to follow her to the door that matched the number on the key. Waiting patiently and silently as she inserted the key into the lock and turned the latch, he became acutely aware of his exhaustion and shivered in discomfort. The room was small and simple, but dry and warm. That was good enough for him.

))((

Once they were inside, Chizrae set the key on the table and Talvalo's backpack on the floor. Then she took her own pack from him and began pulling out wet items to dry them by hanging them around the room. "Rain, rain, rain. All this place ever does is rain."

"It's spring. If it weren't for the rain, we wouldn't have flowers," he half-heartedly countered as he removed his soaked cloak to hang by the door. Then, he copied her actions, removing the dwemer artifacts from his bag and hanging out wet items to dry.

Chizrae pondered their argument as she hung her shirt on a bed post. "You strike me as a very shrewd businessman. Why would someone like you be willing to take a small profit for those artifacts when you know they're worth much more? I could pay you more than two hundred if I got the entire three thousand return, you know." She tilted her chin to glance over her shoulder. "Jiub thinks you sound rather desperate for money, which is odd considering you seem to be from a wealthy background."

"Mmh. Well, he's right. Just because I come from wealth doesn't mean its readily available to me. I need to pay for my food and shelter. And in my situation, I don't have the luxury of holding out for a higher price when what I need has been offered."

The drow slipped off her shoes and sat down on the bed, drawing her knees to her chest and folding her arms across them to combat the chill of having come in from the rain. "Disinherited?"

Talvalo emptied the last wet item from his pack and set the bag in the corner so it could dry out, too. "You could say that."

"What did you do to earn that kind of disciplinary action?"

He gave a short smile, as if embarrassed to speak of the matter, removed his soaked shirt, and pulled a dry one from the bottom of the pack, quickly shrugging into it. "I made some unwise decisions that caught up to me." Releasing the golden clasp that usually held his hair back, he tossed it to the night stand, and gave the wet strands a light tousle in hopes his head and ears would dry out, too. "I'll buy us some dinner, okay? Warm stew will be better than salted fish on a night like this." He took the key and, with a small nod, excused himself from the room.

Chizrae didn't like the vagueness of that answer. Sliding off of the bed, she crept toward his pack and used one finger to gently pry it open. His journal had been tucked away in the bottom, nice and dry. The drow's eyes shifted to the door, and then back to the journal. Hooking the book, she padded back to the bed for some light reading.

His last journal entry had been written at their stop in Balmora last night and merely recorded his complaints with the rain and their objective in reaching Caldera. Turning back a few pages, the drow found the entry he wrote during their trip to Molag Amur. "Anti-social ...," she grumbled with a slight frown. Nothing stood out as unusual, though, so she turned back a few more pages and let the book fall open to a random entry. This time after reading, her brow lifted with interest. If Jiub couldn't dish up anything on him, perhaps some of the ladies named in this book could.


	4. Chapter 4: Newlyweds

Chapter 4: Newlyweds

When the door opened again, Talvalo entered, carefully balancing two soup bowls, two pewter goblets, a bottle of water, and a loaf of warm bread on a tray. "Here we are. Dinner is on me this time, but we'd better find a way to convert artifacts to cash soon because I'm running low on funds." He set the tray on the small table to the left of the door and then turned around to shut it. "It would have been much easier to eat in the common room, of course, but I didn't think you'd want that. No offense, but you look rather ratty right now, with that dirty silk gown and wet hair. It's as if you couldn't decide between dancing or swimming, and went for a mud-wrestling match instead."

"What's the point of looking presentable when you're anti-social?" Chizrae swung her feet off the side of the bed and audibly closed the book she had been reading - unapologetically holding it within his view. "Never mind the fact that we've been walking in the rain for the past two days. You look rather ratty yourself."

Talvalo paused at the sight of his journal in her hands. "I suppose I do look like a pirate more than a noble at the moment." He moved toward her and held out his hand for his journal to be returned. "I invited you to check my public records at the guilds, ... not my private affairs in my journal."

"Oh, but the guilds would not have revealed such juicy details about your affairs." The drowess smirked at his open hand, rather than relinquishing the book. "Perhaps I should speak with some of these women, and find out what they've learned about you."

"They didn't know me long enough or well enough to say anything more than what you've probably already read." Talvalo pulled the book from her hand and returned it to his backpack.

"Like the new bride you comforted after telling her that her husband was killed by a beast?"

"She hired me to look for her missing husband, and I found him in the arms of another woman in Suran. I didn't want to break her heart with the truth."

"Better than taking advantage of her grief."

"Am I getting a morality lesson from a woman who has yet to honor her contract, was going to make me sleep in the rain, and has threatened me more than once with bodily harm?" He sat down at the table to eat his soup, ignoring her skeptical expression. "I happened to be available to comfort that woman in her time of despair. In fact, we had a wonderful evening. If her husband ever does return to her, he will be the one that she will hate for lying to her - not me."

The drow stood and slowly approached the table. "According to that book, you are a liar, a letch, a drunkard, and a gambler."

The altmer looked up from his soup and blew across the hot spoonful. "What can I say? You've found me out. I guess that means I've been completely honest with you all along. I never tell a lie when the truth is more profitable." The soup was still hot enough to burn his tongue as he swallowed it. He winced at the sting, but he was so hungry he had no patience to wait for it to cool.

Chizrae sat down across from him and studied him at he ate. "_That_ is a very drowish thing to say, Talvalo. You mentioned something in your journal about hating the turn of the month because of never being able to repay your debts."

He stared at his soup for a long, somber moment before answering. "I have a few debts I'm having trouble repaying, yes," he quietly admitted. "That's why I so badly need the pay that you promised. After my father's death, he left my inheritance in my mother's hands because I was ... irresponsible." He added the same bittersweet smile as before when asked about his disinheritance. "I was always a bit of a black sheep to the family name with my, eh, ... weakness ... for new experiences. As a result, I spent my time and my money rather unwisely. But, now, I want to pay off my debts the honest way, so I've been indulging my curiosity about the world while hiring myself out as a traveling mercenary. Is that a sin?"

"If your indulgences become reckless, yes. I, for one, will not tolerate being one of your 'curiosities'."

"Well, it's a bit late for that." He gave her a small, guilty smile as he broke the bread in half and pinched off a smaller portion to eat. "That Breton woman I almost talked to before you probably would have been a safer bet, but traveling with you has definitely been an adventure. 'Course no one back home will believe me when I tell them about General Nerevar's reluctance to get in touch with his inner femininity." His chewing paused for a cautious moment. "You probably struggle with gender issues, don't you."

"Apparently not half as much as you do." She grabbed the other half of the bread and pinched off a portion for herself. "How much is your debt?"

Talvalo uncorked the bottle of water and filled both pewter goblets. "I owe my brother twenty thousand septims, and I owe a horse ranch thirty thousand septims. There's a few other odd fellows, but you can do an estimate from there. And for your information my only struggle is making myself leave the arms of the opposite sex when it's such pleasant company. Someone in my position must learn to say goodbyes all too often."

"Horse ranch?"

"Before I left Cyrodiil, one of my passions was horse breeding. I spent a tremendous amount of money breeding and training common stock horses to produce champion cross-breeds and rare ultimate breeds. Unfortunately, another one of my passions was racing them, and it didn't pay off as well as I hoped it would. They're going to sell my horses if I can't come up with the cash to pay back the stable fees and losses." He paused a moment, then met her gaze. "That's why I couldn't resist the opportunity to ask for the inn. I have nothing to put down on collateral for something like that by myself, but if you let me manage it just long enough to earn what I need, I'll give it back and be out of your hair soon enough. I'm not the kind of person to stay tied to a long-term business."

Chizrae cautiously tasted her soup. "You promised Selena you would buy her entire stock of very expensive potions, yet you have no money and you're not planning to stick around?"

"Those potions will instantly be in high demand among those who can afford them, if they know they exist. We just need _her_ to stick around long enough to help turn a profit. We can use them as advertisement for the inn."

The drowess gave a sardonic snort. "And how do you plan to entice her to stay without payment?"

He shrugged in good humor. "I was thinking poetry might do the trick?"

Chizrae rested her chin in her hand and gave him a doubtful glance. "Poetry?"

Talvalo met her flat expression with a glint of humor in his eyes. "What did you think I intended to entice her with? You're even more of a letch than I am. I'm going to be married soon, remember?"

"Well, if it means free potions, I could loan you out to her."

"And risk having you read about it in my journal? I don't think she'd appreciate that. Not that it matters because I'm more interested in collecting memories than loved ones. Through that journal, each person I meet becomes a fond memory, but if any of them were to become actual loved ones, ... well, it would inevitably end in tragedy, wouldn't it?" He knew it was an odd thing for a gold elf to say, and he could tell she was thinking the same, but one in his predicament couldn't even consider the stable relationships most gold elves achieved at some point in their lives.

))((

The following day, they returned to Creeper, and Talvalo did his best to re-open negotiations. The scamp still wouldn't budge on his price for the exchange, and Chizrae refused to take anything less than the asking amount. So, they eventually gave up on making money in Caldera and headed north on the road to Ald'ruhn.

It was a long, bleak journey, much like the one through Molag Amur. By the time they reached the city, it was already nightfall again. Chizrae went straight to the Mages Guild and found Edwinna Elbert in the main hall. Handing over the excavation report, the drow explained what went wrong with the original delivery plans and pulled the old book from her satchel to show to the guild steward.

Edwinna set down the excavation report to study the book first. "This is a remarkable find, Chizrae. It looks like a translation key for Dwemer from Aldmeris. This book could be priceless in the right hands. I'm afraid my studies are based more on dwemer mechanical designs. You should show this book to Hasphat Antabolis at the Fighters Guild in Balmora. He's an expert on dwemer lore." She passed the book back to the drow and then opened the excavation report.

Chizrae remembered Hasphat Antabolis. He had aided her with the Blades quests to hunt down information on what happened at Red Mountain between Dagoth Ur's Sixth House and the destruction of the dwemer race. All he wanted in return was a dwemer puzzle box from one of the ruins. She tucked the book carefully back into her satchel and wondered why she didn't think of him to begin with.

"This is interesting," Edwinna spoke as she read the report. "According to this, there's a blueprint at another dwemer ruin call Mzuleft. I simply _must_ have that blueprint." She looked up from the report. "Would you go to Mzuleft and retrieve the blueprint for me?"

"I have to take care of some personal matters in Seyda Neen first. Maybe afterwards."

"Thank you, Chizrae. I knew I could count on you. By the way, I've heard from the Balmora guild that you were responsible for the recent clearing of the skies over Red Mountain - that the Ghostfence has fallen and Dagoth Ur has been defeated. Is this true?"

The dark elf frowned slightly at this topic surfacing again. "Dagoth Ur has been defeated," she confirmed with growing irritation.

Edwinna drew a breath of astonishment. "Then, ... are _you_ the Nerevarine?"

"I was a messenger. Did you say the Balmora guild told you this?"

"It's a pity Arch-mage Trebonius operates the guild with only half of his brain cells functioning when we have the Nerevarine among our ranks. No wonder you always prevail on these guild assignments. Why, that means you must have seen first-hand what lies beneath Red Mountain! You must sit down with me sometime and file your own excavation report. Perhaps we could persuade you to go back in there and recover a few items for us. Well, I have to go now. Terribly busy today. Safe travels, dear." The guild steward smiled and started to leave.

"Edwinna?" The drow stepped forward expectantly. "What about my pay? For the report delivery?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I don't really have anything to offer this time."

Chizrae's head cocked to one side, hoping she understood wrong. "You're not going to pay me?"

"Guild members should strive for scholarship and mastery of magicka, ... not wealth."

"I became a member of the guild because I needed work."

"You can't put a price on something like uncovering the truth of the past. Let me know when you get that blueprint from Mzuleft."

Talvalo's mouth opened in dismay as Edwinna walked away.

Chizrae felt as if she was going to blow a fuse. "How do they expect anyone to eat if they pay in scholarship instead of money? I came all this way for nothing," the drow hissed in rising frustration. "Now I have to get back to Seyda Neen as quickly as possible - before someone else buys my estate." She abruptly headed back toward the stairs, with her altmer companion in tow, and followed the balcony around the guild hall until she came to a teleporter room. Then, she pulled up her coin purse to count what was left of her coins. "Two to Balmora."

"As you wish." The guild mage waited for them to step into the teleporting circle before she cast her spell.

When the blinding sparkles faded, Chizrae and Talvalo were in a different room in a different guild. And they had barely arrived when she strode across the room to a khajiit behind a desk. "Ajira, can I have a word with you?" the drow half-asked, half-demanded in a slightly perturbed tone.

"Grrrreetings, Chizrae." Ajira lifted her golden, feline eyes past the drow to the altmer behind her. "And Talvalo, it is good to see you, again, too. Are you here for work?"

Chizrae blinked in surprise. They knew each other?

"Hello, Ajira," Talvalo warmly greeted the khajiit and stepped down from the teleportation platform to kiss her hand. "I'm afraid I'm still under contract at the moment. But I'll check back in when I've been paid for this one."

"Verrrry good. Talvalo and Chizrae, good, good friends of Ajira's. Just a moment, please." Ajira gave a short smile that showed off her over-sized incisors and then turned to set aside what she had been working on.

Chizrae used the opportunity to lean into Talvalo with a whisper. "Is there a page in your journal to explain this pleasantry?"

He drew back in offense. "There most certainly is _not_. I'm not that adventurous."

"I'll bet she gives a nice back scrrrratch."

The corner of Talvalo's mouth twitched in tolerance of the drow's mocking tone. "Ajira finds more work for me than the other guild masters. I'm grateful, but that's the extent of it."

The drow stepped toward the khajiit's desk. "Ajira, you like telling secrets, don't you?"

The khajiit turned on her padded toes. "I tell best secrets so Chizrae get good prrromotion, like Chizrae helped Ajira."

"You didn't happen to tell other Mage Guilds about my work here in Balmora concerning the Sixth House, did you?"

"Ajira told no one," the feline woman promised.

"The guild in Ald'ruhn heard that I had something to do with the fall of the Ghostfence. I'd like to know who told them," the drow persisted.

"Ajira not tell. Temple of Dawn and Dusk at Ghostgate report to all of Morrowind's leaders that Ghostfence fell. Great Houses permitted Chizrae to become Horrrrtator. Dunmer say Horrrtator is Nerevarine. That you are the one who defeated Dagoth Urrr is not hard to figure out."

The drow realized the khajiit was right. There was no one to blame for this. The prophecy was too widely known, and by unifying the great houses and the tribes, her involvement with the political powers in Morrowind was sealed. It was only logical that it would trickle down the ranks eventually. "Alright ... Thank you, Ajira."

Outside of the Balmora Mage Guild, they were met by rain once more, and this time thunder and lightning accompanied it. Chizrae went next door to the Fighters Guild and went down the stairs to the training room, where she found Hasphat Antabolis. Her weary battlemage companion leaned on the desk and remained silent while she showed the Imperial the old book and explained what Edwinna said about it being a translation key.

"She's absolutely right," Hasphat agreed. "Did you show this to Senilias Cadiusus?"

"No."

"He would be very happy to see it. However, he wouldn't be able to help you translate it. You need a scholar who knows Aldmeris. Take it to Baladas Demnevanni. You'll find him in an old Velothi tower called Arvs-Drelen, in Gnisis," he recommended. "Be cautious, though. He's a renegade Telvanni wizard who doesn't take kindly to visitors, from what I've heard. If you can convince him to translate the book and tell you what it's about, would you mind coming back to me and sharing what he says?"

"No problem. Thanks." Tucking the book into her pack, Chizrae sighed and headed back out of the building, ... back into the rain.

"Well, ... now what?" Talvalo finally asked.

The drow sighed heavily in frustration as her stomach growled, hinting that it was past dinner time. "Southwall Corner Club," she announced and started to walk away.

Talvalo caught her arm and waited for a crack of thunder to finish before speaking. "That's all the way across the river. Eight Plates is closer."

"Eight Plates is more expensive, and we're running out of money."

"I'm not in the mood for moldy cheese and ale. Suit yourself, but I'm going to Eight Plates." Releasing her, he pulled his hood close around his face and headed down the muddy, narrow street.

After suffering yet another cold, wet day of disappointment, rather than arguing, Chizrae reluctantly followed her high-class mercenary.

Music, laughter, and the scent of rat-and-hound stew welcomed them into the warmth of the establishment. Talvalo removed his wet cloak and held out an arm to receive hers, as well. The drowess hesitated at his gentlemanly gesture, suspecting some kind of trap behind it, but then removed her saturated cloak and handed it to him. On their way into the common room, they passed the dancers and musicians to find an empty table. Talvalo draped both cloaks on the backs of the chairs as an Imperial serving girl approached.

"Good evening. I see it's still raining. Can I get you something warm and steamy?" she greeted them.

"I love warm and steamy, " Talvalo grinned playfully. "Hound-and-rat stew - two servings."

"We can't afford -"

He quickly cupped a hand over the drow's mouth before she could protest. "And a loaf of corn bread with butter. Oh, and some Cyrodiil wine, if you don't mind."

The human girl smiled coyly at him as she wrote the order on her notepad. "No sujamma tonight?"

"No, I have no desire to be hung-over tomorrow morning." He released Chizrae with a look of warning for her not to argue with him.

The serving girl laughed lightly. "Not this time?"

"Not this time," he agreed with a small chuckle.

"Aw, but drunk elves are loads of fun." The serving girl glanced toward the dark elf with him and changed her mind about what she was going to say next. Instead, she gave him a wink and tore the bill from her pad. "I'll be right back with your wine."

Talvalo pulled a chair from the table for Chizrae to have a seat, who begrudgingly accepted it, and then seated himself across the table from her. "So, it's Gnisis next, I suppose?"

"Not until I have the deed to the Seyda Neen estate. I just hope someone else hasn't already bought it while we wasted time running around in circles. I should have done that first - especially since I got _nothing_ from Caldera or Ald'ruhn." She scowled and crumpled the napkin on the table.

Talvalo shrugged. "If someone else bought it, we'll just find out who it was and ask them to negotiate."

"They might not be willing to sell."

"One way or another you'll get your estate. Just leave it to me," he assured her.

The tired drow leaned an elbow on the table. "You mean one way or another you'll get your inn," she corrected his intentions.

"Can't have the inn without the estate." He gave a short smile.

The serving girl brought two goblets and the wine to their table. "The food will just be a minute," she promised.

"Thank you," the elf answered with a small, gracious bow of his head and then watched with a grin as she retreated, clearly flattered. Lifting the bottle, Talvalo checked the location and date on the label before uncorking it. "Tamika's Vinyard, ... Skingrad. Ever been there? It's lovely country. Too many goblins for my taste, but lovely all the same. They make the best wines in all of Cyrodiil there." He poured the wine into both goblets and nudged Chizrae's serving toward her, tempting her to partake.

Chizrae accepted the goblet, but only set it back on the table and turned the stem lightly between her fingers.

Refusing to let a discouraged mood ruin their nice dinner, Talvalo finished his wine in a couple of unsavory gulps, thumped the goblet back on the table, and leaned toward her again. "Do you like to dance?"

Chizrae looked up as if he had just spoken a foreign language. "What?"

"Would you like to dance?" he repeated more clearly, amused at her surprise, and stood to follow through on his invitation.

Chizrae stared at his offered hand, as if it was a snake. "I'd prefer to wait for my food."

"Oh, come on. It's been a horrible week, and we deserve to have some fun. Stop worrying about the money and the estate, and dance with me. I'll bet I can cheer you up if you give me a chance."

The drow quirked a skeptical brow at that comment. "Like you cheered all your previous clients?"

Talvalo withdrew his hand and straightened with a sigh. "You're not going to let the journal entries go, are you? I'm not as bad as you're making it sound, you know. At least I prefer the company of women to sleeping with a sword."

"Well, you know what they say. The best way to a man's heart is through his back," Chizrae dryly answered as she lifted her goblet to her lips and took a sip of her wine.

The altmer took his seat again. "Do you really hate me that much? Because in spite of what you read in my journal - which you had no business stealing in the first place - I can't think of anything I've done to offend you. Maybe you just hate men in general." Talvalo poured himself another glass of wine and took a sip. "It's that gender issue thing, isn't it - living as a man and then reincarnating as a woman. Must be terribly confusing."

The drowess frowned in annoyance. "I am _not_ the reincarnate of a man. I have always been a woman. And I assure you I am _not_ confused on the matter."

"Let me guess: you loved someone once, but he cheated on you, so now all men are pigs."

"Don't be ridiculous. Drow do not 'love' anyone. Our relationships are nothing more than beneficial alliances." Chizrae defiantly corrected him.

"Like ... a marriage contract for the sake of a house deed," he guessed.

"We have favorites, of course, but favorites never last, ... like my weapons master." She took another sip of her wine and began to twist the stem of her goblet again in reflection.

"He left you?"

Chizrae slowly lifted her crimson gaze to the altmer's presumptuous expression. "My mother cut out his heart and offered it to the demon goddess Lloth."

Talvalo winced in distaste and lifted a hand protectively over his own heart as the serving girl reappeared and set their food on the table. "Let's not invite her to the wedding."

"Here's your stew and your corn bread. And ... I gave you some extra pats of butter," she told Talvalo.

"Thank you." Talvalo, realizing he was getting nowhere with the drow, turned to face the serving girl. "Excuse me, but would you care to dance?"

She smiled at him in astonishment, but then glanced toward Chizrae with hesitation.

The drow could read what the human girl was thinking and in return she gave her a thin cat-like smile that carried a look of ownership and warning.

The serving girl became decidedly uncomfortable. "Maybe some other time," she answered apologetically before leaving them alone once more.

Chizrae chuckled under her breath, pleased that she had frightened the human girl away.

Talvalo faced the dark elf with a thin-lipped expression. "If you don't want to have any fun, that's one thing, but to purposefully spoil mine is another."

"That was fun," Chizrae insisted, sipping some more wine before starting on her meal.

"Oh, I see how it is. Your fun only comes at the expense of others," Talvalo grumbled as he shifted in his seat and started to eat. "I suppose I should be glad that you're finally smiling, but ..." The elf paused as someone new approached and stood close to his side. This time, he looked up to find a drunken man leaning on the edge of their table. "Oh, hello. Has someone's been enjoying a bit of sujamma this evening?"

The drunk focused his unstable attention on Talvalo. "Well, well, well. If it isn't good ol' Talvalo. Remember me?"

The altmer was at a loss for words for a moment, but then he found them again. "Tance! I hired you to train one of my Skyrim mares." The gold elf sat up straighter and grinned. "Yes, I remember you now. How are things?"

Chizrae was wary of how agitated the drunk human seemed to be in comparison with Talvalo's pleasantries, but she took a sip of her wine and held her tongue. Of all the women mentioned in the journal, she didn't remember seeing mentions of any men. It might be interesting to see how this played out.

"I'm still unemployed thanks to you. That's how things are. Because of what you wrote in the register for my references, I haven't been able to pick up any more work."

"Oh." Talvalo's grin lessened somewhat. "I'm sorry to hear that, ... but I had to be fair in the register about why I couldn't retain you any longer. You were hurting the horse."

"I wasn't hurting her. Horses like that need to be broken before they'll obey."

"Breaking the spirit only instills fear and resentment," Chizrae spoke, though she hadn't planned on joining this conversation. "It may lead to temporary obedience, but a broken spirit will turn on you eventually."

Tance turned to face her. "Really. And who made you the grandmaster trainer?"

Talvalo tried to draw the attention back to himself. "Listen, I'm sorry I had to let you go, Tance, but I had to do what was best for the horse."

The trainer snorted. "Well, it ended up dead anyway, didn't it. Heh. I heard about that. The week after I left, some beast decided to have it as a little midnight snack, didn't it. Serves you right. I could have trained that horse to kick the shit out of whatever was attacking it. Your loss - twice over." The disgruntled man turned to walk away.

Relieved to see him go, Talvalo flashed Chizrae a frown. "Some people have no business breeding - like his parents, for example."

She tried to continue her meal. "Something attacked your horse?"

He nodded behind a big mouthful of stew. "Something got loose on the ranch and killed my prize Skyrim before the guards could get to it. It was a terrible loss because she was a quality horse. Plus, I had to buy another one," he explained, but unexpectedly found his meal interrupted again. Tance had come back to the table, but this time leaned on Chizrae's side of it.

Tance paused for a moment as if trying to find words for his drunken thoughts, but then wagged a finger at her knowingly. "I know you. You're that Hortytor for House Hlaalu, aren't you?"

"Hor-ta-tor," the dark elf corrected the human in a cool manner, though she was irritated this subject was rearing its ugly head once more. "When there is a need for unity, the Hortator represents all three noble houses, not just Hlaalu," she corrected without answering his question.

"Yeah, I remember seeing you around their council house - an Outlander born on a certain day of uncertain parents, unifying the three houses and the four tribes - Nerevarine. Heh." Tance drew back rather casually, but then forcefully spat in her stew. "That's what I think of your Ashlander 'prophecies'. Backwater nomads just looking for an excuse to defy the Empire. Everyone thought it was superstitious nonsense at first, but now that the blight storms from Red Mountain have ended, even the Imperial legion is happy as hell to accept it as truth. And yet, nobody seems to give a damn about the rest of it!"

As the volume of his voice rose, the music and the people in the common room quieted and turned to watch him speak. "You've all heard it though, right?" Tance addressed the crowd. "Now that the Sixth House has been destroyed, the Nerevarine is also supposed to free Morrowind from Imperial occupation and rule. You know what that means, right? War! That's why those savages out in the Ashlands have been waiting for their fabled chief to save them, so that he can lead them into war against the Empire. That's the part that has Uriel Septim shaking in his boots all the way back in Imperial City. After all, if you declare war on the Imperial settlers and chase us out of Morrowind, you might as well try to assassinate our Emperor while you're at it. Isn't that right, ... _Nerevarine_?"

Chizrae's blood-red eyes narrowed on the man as she stood to face him, but she stayed her hand from her sword as she heard whispers repeated in low tones among the other patrons in the common room. Too many people present to shut him up without negative consequences.

She could hear the whispers all about her now, of course. Was it true? Was this raven-skinned, female dark elf the true reincarnation of General Nerevar? Though it seemed unlikely, she was apparently the one who had managed to fulfill the prophecy. Now that Morrowind was saved from Red Mountain's legions of death, would she turn her sword on the legions of the Empire, ... or possibly the Emperor himself?

A dunmer noblewoman in the crowd took the initiative to speak first. "Your Grace, thank you for returning and sparing our land and our lives." She bowed low to demonstrate her faith in the prophecy.

"Yes, thank you, Sirrah. We are eternally grateful for what you've done." A dunmer nobleman bowed as well.

A dunmer commoner approached next. "I ... I don't know what to say. I've never been in the presence of someone famous before, and the Nerevarine ... You've saved us all." All three dunmer looked upon the drunken human with disgust for his arrogant political opinions concerning the Empire's presence in Morrowind.

Chizrae glanced around the room with caution. A couple of House Hlaalu guards were present if Tance got out of hand, but about fifty percent of the other patrons were of non-dunmer heritage. She could see an almost visible divide forming in the room between the native dark elves and the increasingly uncomfortable Imperial, Breton, and Redguard humans. Regardless of whether they were born in Morrowind, or had emigrated to it from lands beyond, this was not their prophecy. And according to Morrowind's dunmer, this was not their land. A seed of fear had been planted tonight concerning the second half of the Nerevarine Prophecy, one she was sure would spread as quickly as news of the fulfillment of the first. Mild panic began to set in from all the attention. The drow tried to back away from the crowd and grasped the shoulder of Talvalo's sleeve. "I think I'd like that dance now," she urgently prompted.

Talvalo gave Tance a mild glance of warning for the trouble he'd started, but then he stood and shifted an arm across the drow's back to separate her from those clustering too near. Leading her to open area of the common room, he cued the musicians to play something soothing.

Trying to hide from everyone's stares, Chizrae buried her forehead into his robe.

The altmer looked down at the drow's unexpected action with concern. "We can leave if you want," he spoke near her ebony-colored ear. "Southwall might not be such a bad idea after all."

"I will not run from the likes of him," Chizrae answered in a defiant, but bitter tone. "Just keep me from doing something to him I know I'll regret." As they danced, the drowess glanced behind Talvalo toward the bar where Tance stood, still drinking his sujamma. Glaring at the human, she almost dared him to publicly challenge her a second time.

))((

Arrille's Tradehouse in Seyda Neen was so crowded that Chizrae had to turn sideways to fit in the door. As soon as she squeezed inside, though, she wished she hadn't. She was immediately assaulted by a familiar, whiny, little voice.

"Greetings and salutations! How are you today, Chizrae? I haven't seen you around in a while."

The drow's shoulders slumped. Fargoth was the most annoying wood elf on the face of the planet.

"The weather is just dreadful lately, isn't it," he spoke as he cornered her. "I had a feeling that this would happen with every traveler from miles around coming in here seeking shelter. I keep telling Arrille, 'Arrille, you need to expand. Take advantage of the business opportunities and add more rooms.' But you know Arrille. All he says is -'"

"Excuse me," Chizrae firmly interrupted. She had no patience for him right now and roughly pushed past him to the gold elf proprieter behind the counter. "Are you having a sale or something? Where did all these people come from?"

Arille smiled sympathetically at her hint of complaint. "Just people trying to get out of the rain. No end in sight yet, I'm afraid. What can I do for you? Got a sack of wooden spoons to sell today?" he joked with the drow in a familiar manner.

"I'm looking for Jiub."

"Room number one."

Chizrae smirked at the joke. There was only one room available in his tradehouse. "Thanks."

"Talvalo! Good to see you passing through again." Arrille held out a hand to the other gold elf that had squeezed through the crowd behind her.

Chizrae paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked back over her shoulder at them, mildly surprised, and a little annoyed, that Talvalo knew him, too.

"Arrille, you're a little pinched at the seams today. I think you need a bigger barn." Talvalo politely greeted him in the same manner and then followed the drow up to the second floor.

"Is there anyone in Morrowind that you _don't_ know?"

"I told you I travel a lot."

"If Fargoth follows us, do me a favor and push him down the stairs. With the place this crowded, no one will know who was to blame." Chizrae heard the battlemage chuckle at her comment, but she had been dead serious. Elbowing her way through the small dining area that consisted of only one table and a bar, she found the room for rent at the very back.

"Jiub?" She knocked at the door.

The door opened and the dunmer thief greeted her with a mischievous smile that automatically waned at the sight of Talvalo standing behind her. "Oh, ... you're still here."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Talvalo returned, still not bothered the thief clearly didn't like him.

"Hm," the thief responded in a dry and annoyed, but puzzled manner.

Chizrae could tell by Jiub's expression that he had wanted to speak with her alone. "Where's Selena?"

"Probably visiting with her sister Eldafire. She's been rather bored in this little do-nothing town while waiting for your return."

Chizrae turned to Talvalo. "Go find her and let her know we're back. Then, head on up to the excise and census offices. I'll join you there in a minute. I need to ask a favor of Jiub concerning the artifacts." She lifted the heavy pack from Talvalo's shoulder and set it inside the thief's door.

"Creeper didn't buy anything?" Jiub asked in surprise.

Talvalo rubbed his weary shoulder and rotated it a few times to be sure it still moved, now that he was free from the heavy burden. "He wanted a little more than she was willing to offer." With that, the altmer bowed out of the conversation - aware that they were going to talk about him - and willingly headed back down the stairs.

Jiub let Chizrae into the room and closed the door, locking it behind her. "Why didn't you hock the artifacts at the pawn shop, if you didn't want to sell to Creeper?"

"Because I needed to deliver that report to Ald'ruhn and get back here as quickly as I could."

"Well, on this end, I searched out some dirt on our poet."

"And?"

"He's well-known enough that he is who he claims to be; but he's got a history of gambling and tavern tabs, and he's tied up in some big debt problems at the Pegas Ranch up in Vos."

"He told me as much himself. Honestly, Jiub, you're about as worthless as he is." The drow pushed her hood back. "I read his journal - well, part of it. He keeps meticulous tabs on every person he meets - especially women. He records little tales and details about the places he goes, but he doesn't like to stay in one place or with one person too long. Most gold elves are very solid personalities that consider life sacred, but it's almost like he welcomes impossible challenges that may end up killing him."

"Death wish?"

"Yes, ... but no. He's reckless enough to have no morals, yet he lives with a sense of ..." She couldn't find an appropriate word. "Purpose? Honor? No, not honor, ... I don't know. It's a weird combination, particularly coming from a gold elf."

"Recklessness isn't good for us, Chiz."

"I know."

"Tread with caution."

"I will."

"The only other skeleton I found in his closet is the fact that he does come from a wealthy family in Cyrodiil, but he turned down his inheritance when his father died."

Chizrae sat down at the foot of the bed and gave him a puzzled frown. "He turned it down? That's not what he told me. He said it was denied to him because he was irresponsible."

"According to my sources, he voluntarily turned it down."

"But he's deep in debt. What kind of idiot would voluntarily turn down a large inheritance when he's deep in debt?"

"He apparently gave no explanations, other than saying he needed some time away."

Chizrae frowned and picked at the mud on her soft leather boots. "Odd."

"Very," Jiub agreed.

"Is he the sole heir?"

"No. His father divided his estate between his widow and their three children. Talvalo is the youngest, with an elder brother and sister."

Chizrae sighed at that sparse information. "Well, you found out more than I did. His journal is nothing but a pillow book with occasional notes on his mercenary jobs. Though I suppose we could hunt down the women he's named, if necessary." She lifted her gaze to her partner in crime. "Oh well. I need you to round up everyone that has been of service to us over the past several months. Tell them to meet me here tomorrow around midday. If Talvalo can help me buy the estate, I will invite everyone else to see it and make some services offers." She smiled and stood.

"And if he fails?"

Chizrae drew an unsteady breath and considered what happened at the Eight Plates on their way back through Balmora. "If I cannot have this island estate, ... then it is time for me to leave Morrowind in search of some other place. People are beginning to associate me with the Nerevarine, and some of them are aware of the fact that the second half of the prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. They're getting uneasy about it."

"Ah, ... you mean the part where Nerevar returns to expel the foreign races from Morrowind and chase the Empire back to where it came from, with its tail tucked between its legs." Jiub knew it well. "I wouldn't worry about it. Right now, you're a prophetic savior to the dunmer, and the slayer of Dagoth Ur to everyone else. Either way, you're a hero in everyone's eyes for cutting off the source of the blight storms at Red Mountain. Besides, to do something like purge all of Morrowind from foreign influence, you'd have to command an incredible army. And all you have is me." The thief grinned broadly. "And, ... maybe the duke's whipping boy."

The drowess snorted in amusement and moved toward Talvalo's back pack. "I'll leave this here for now. His journal is in there, if you're in the mood for some interesting reading." She opened the door and started to leave.

"Chiz."

She stopped and turned to face him.

Jiub scratched lightly at his nose piercings. "Even though Talvalo is who he says he is, and everything checks out with him, something still doesn't feel right."

She gave a nod of understanding for his concern. "If you find out anything else, let me know." The drow unlocked the door and let herself out.

Beyond the crowded Tradehouse, she broke into a run across the mud puddles toward the census and excise offices. Talvalo was waiting for her in the main office.

"Ah, yes! There you are." Socucius Ergalla greeted her as he had the day that she arrived on the prison ship from Imperial City. "We have a few papers for you to sign before a marriage can be made official. Congratulations to the two of you. What date have you set for the ceremony?"

"Today," she answered.

Socucius blinked in surprise and looked up at them. "Today?" He lightly laughed. "Well, I suppose we'd better get busy then. I certainly don't want to make you late for your own wedding."

"Well, actually I was wondering if that could be done here, while we're signing the papers." She strode toward the desk and looked over the books and scrolls as he spread them out, but was waved away.

"Here? ... You mean now? Most people prefer their ceremonies done in temples, but the Imperial governing offices does have the authority to perform marriages in places where no temples exist."

"Seyda Neen is lucky to have a trade house, never mind a temple. We'll just skip the ceremony. We're not very religious anyway." Chizrae smiled sweetly and moved to Talvalo's side, wrapping an arm around his as if they had been lovers for ages. "I do, and he does, too. Now, where do we sign?"

"Oh, um, yes, ... I do," Talvalo repeated after her and smiled pleasantly, patting the small, black hand that rested in the crook of his arm.

Socucius was speechless for a moment. "Well, that was hardly romantic or memorable. Are you sure you wouldn't rather -"

"No, we're fine with it," Chizrae assured him and gestured for him to keep writing whatever he was writing in the record books.

"She's a little anxious to leave for the honeymoon," Talvalo lightly explained, but received a sharp pinch at the wrist and a stern scowl for it. Rubbing at the red mark on his hand he bit back the urge to fuss at her for having no sense of humor.

Socucius shook his head in disbelief at this unusual hastiness. "If that's what you wish, then, ... by the authority of the Empire represented within this governing office, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Chizrae wasn't familiar enough with human marriage ceremonies to understand whether the kiss was absolutely necessary to the legality of the deal, but she figured asking about it would raise unnecessary questions. She looked to the altmer, who seemed somewhat bemused at her discomfort, but he made no move toward her like she thought he would.

Socucius laughed lightly. "Oh come now. Surely you don't want to skip that part of the ceremony."

"She's rather shy," Talvalo answered.

"Shy? Too anxious for the honeymoon to have a ceremony, but too shy to kiss?" Socucius looked to the dark elf in utter bewilderment.

"Well, it's because you're watching, see? In private she's an absolute animal."

That did it. Chizrae gritted her teeth and overcame a lifetime of prejudice against gold elves to rise on her tiptoes and give the altmer a rather belligerent kiss. It was followed by a look of warning that he was to shut up now.

Talvalo gave her a mildly appreciative smile and touched his lips with interest.

"Very good. Now if you'll just ... put your signatures on that line, on this scroll, and in this book. That will be all." Socucius turned his paperwork to face them and passed quills to both of them.

Talvalo swirled his name onto the contracts with an elegant flourish beside Chizrae's small and careful script. Then he dropped the quill back into the well.

"I must say, this is the most unusual wedding I've ever seen." The Imperial man signed his own name to the certificates and filled out the rest of the details as needed before sprinkling one with a light sand to absorb any wet blots and placing a thin piece of rice paper over it. Stamping both with the Emperor's seal and ribbon, he neatly rolled it into a tight scroll and tied the ribbon before presenting it to them. "Congratulations again. I hope you two have a very long and happy life together."

"Does this go into your records as well as ours?" Chizrae asked to be sure.

"The copies ensure it. In the Empire's eyes, you are now a legally bonded couple, taxes and all."

Chizrae's smile was small but genuine this time. "Thank you."

Talvalo reached the door first, so he opened it for her and gave their counselor a friendly wave before following her outdoors once more. "Well, that was rather painless compared to what I imagined."

"Weddings are always painful - even the short ones."

"I meant the kiss." He adjusted his cloak in the rain. "Okay, where is this estate owner I'm supposed to speak to?"

"It would be good for you to have something to offer him first as a down payment, ... or a bribe." Chizrae tucked the marriage certificate into her backpack. "Let's get your pack from Jiub and empty it so we can carry the money in that."

"You're going to show me where the money stash is?"

"I won't need to stash it anymore if this works. And if it doesn't, I'll find another place to hide it." She checked her hood and headed back down the muddy road toward the Tradehouse.

"I'm thinking a trip to Valenwood might be nice for a honeymoon. Don't you?"

Chizrae glanced over her shoulder to regard her new husband with disdain. Then, she shook her head at his continued mockery of the situation and marched forward. Anxious to get out of the rain, her march soon turned into a jog.


	5. Chapter 5: Home Sweet Home

Chapter 5: Home Sweet Home

Talvalo looked around the cavern they had just entered and tried to peer through the darkness into the tunnel ahead. The damp chill of the place sent a shiver up his spine unlike anything he'd experienced before. It smelled of rot, and melted candle wax. In the torchlight, he could see the melted red candles puddled on rocks here and there, but that didn't explain the rot. "What is this place?"

"It was a Sixth House sanctuary that I cleaned out about a month ago." Chizrae walked ahead of him this time, instead of thrusting him into the darkness ahead of her as a living shield.

"You hid your gold in a Sixth House sanctuary? Are you insane?"

"No thieves would dare to come in here, even if they knew of its existence."

The battlemage suddenly swooshed the firelight low to see an object that lay across the ground in their path.

"Ash ghoul," Chizrae identified the corpse. "Dagoth Ur invaded people's dreams turning them into sleepers to prophesy his return and rebuild his army." She stepped over the body and checked the formation of the rocks to determine which direction she should go next. "Once he had control of people's minds, he could draw them into these cult havens, where sleepers were killed and resurrected through necromantic magic to become dreamers. Then as dreamers they were sent out to kill members of the other houses." She continued to explain as she led the way deep into the heart of the cavern - the shrine itself.

"Dreamers feed on the flesh of Corprus victims to sustain their undead existence and begin a transformation into immortal monsters - vampires stronger than anything you'll find hiding in a crypt. Their skin absorbs the blight diseases carried on the ash storms, and they rise in rank during the transformation to become magic-wielding ash slaves and ash zombies. Ash zombies can travel through the pathways of a dream. They're very dangerous." She paused slightly at the memory of waking to find their grotesque faces leering over her mere seconds before they attempted to kill her. "Eventually, they can rise to the power of an ash ghoul. Then, they can either transform into an ash vampire or an ascended sleeper. Dagoth Ur used the vampires to guard his most sacred magic items and the gateways to the heart of Red Mountain. Ascended sleepers become guardians of the cult shrines. ... Or something like that." She gestured as they came to the corpse of an ascended sleeper she had previously killed in the shrine.

Talvalo regarded the ascended sleeper with even more disgust than he had the ash ghoul. "It's positively revolting. I'd heard about some of that, but never heard it explained that way before." He put a hand to his nose and tried not to breathe deep as he crouched for a closer look at the thing's large, gray, octopus-like head. Then, he backed away to where Chizrae had stopped at a coffin, when he realized something very unsettling. "Though you speak of Dagoth Ur in the past tense, you refer to his minions in the present."

"Though he is dead, many of his minions still live. Without Dagoth Ur's divine magic, there will be no more people taken during their dreams to start the cycle as sleepers. If I can continue to find and awaken the sleepers that were under his spell, maybe they can be spared. But there are many more dreamers, Corprus victims, and ash creatures that it is too late to save. They will continue to transform and spawn new monsters, hiding away in places like this. Our only hope is that the number of Corprus victims will decrease now that Red Mountain is still and quiet. ... But it will take time, either way. There is no instant cure for what has happened to this land because of Dagoth Ur." She pulled on her gloves and began to shift chunks of corprus meat out of the way in the open coffin.

"That makes me feel so much better." Talvalo watched what she was doing. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Human and animal flesh infected with the Corprus disease."

Talvalo groaned. "I think I'm going to be physically sick if we don't get out of here soon."

Chizrae was trying not to breathe the rancor of decaying, cursed flesh while she sprung the traps on her own locks in the chests at the bottom of the coffin. Grabbing several cloth sacks, she passed them to him.

Talvalo pulled on his own gloves, not wanting to touch anything that had touched corprus meat. Propping the torch in the corner of the coffin, so that he could use both hands, he quickly transferred her savings into his emptied travel bag. Then, he helped her load hers. When the last bag of gold was crammed into her pack, he lifted it to test the weight. "Are you sure you can carry this? You're rather small."

She reached for the pack and tried to lift it to her shoulder, but it was so heavy that it fell back to the floor. Chizrae yelped slightly and her knees buckled to the ground, with her feet to either side of her hips. She gritted her teeth and tried to stand again, but she couldn't pull the pack up with her.

Talvalo tried not to laugh, and offered her a hand to help her. "Now you know what it was like to carry a dwemer cog all the way back from -" Something suddenly washed over him. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't even blink.

))((

Chizrae looked up at Talvalo's abrupt silence and felt the blood drain from her face. Green wisps of glowing magic surrounded his body - paralysis magic. An ash zombie behind the altmer raised its spiked club and brought it down against the back of Talvalo's skull in a powerful blow. "Talvalo!" The drow tried to pull free to help him, but the heavy bag on her shoulder held her grounded a second too long. It was enough time for the ash zombie to deliver a second blow as powerful as the first. Then the magic subsided, and Talvalo crumpled to the floor, unconscious. As the ash zombie raised his club for a third strike - the killing blow - Chizrae freed herself from the heavy backpack and rushed forward, pushing the ash zombie back into an ash ghoul behind it. It was the ash ghoul that had cast the paralysis magic.

The drow clenched her teeth, drew her daedric dagger from her belt, and pounced on the ash zombie again. Two quick punches at the base of the throat were enough to permanently take it out of the fight, but as its cold, undead blood spattered on her hands and cheek, she felt another spell draining energy from her body, like a vampire sucking her dry without so much as laying a finger on her. With a growl, she dropped the dagger and drew Spiderbite from its sheathe. The ash ghoul clawed at her, nearly catching her in its grasp, but she dodged under his arm and then twisted the enchanted blade underhand like a large dagger, impaling him through the back before he could cast another drain spell. Chizrae listened for the gurgle of death trapped in the creature's throat before she jerked her weapon free and let him fall to his knees. Then, turning to face the ash ghoul's back, she grasped Spiderbite in both hands and swung down at an angle, severing its gruesome head from its body.

As she caught her breath, her eyes quickly scanned the darkness to make sure there weren't any others. She had made the mistake of thinking that because she had emptied the cavern once, it would stay that way; but if these two ash creatures had found their way here from elsewhere, there could be more. The drowess bent over the headless body at her feet and snatched an amulet from its throat. In the flickering light of Talvalo's propped torch, she could make out the Sixth House symbol engraved on the ruby, and the red glow of vampiric drain magic that enveloped it. Clenching the amulet in her bloody fist, she claimed another trophy for her collection.

Moving to crouch beside Talvalo, she mentally cursed herself for bringing him in here without either of them wearing full armor protection. She lifted his head, fearing that his unprotected skull had suffered irreparable fractures under the crushing blows of the spiked club; but her fingers were able to determine that at least the bone had not been smashed or splintered. Able to detect a weak pulse at his throat, she could only hope that his full mental capacities were unharmed. "You are one lucky bastard," she whispered to his unconscious form.

Closing her eyes, she placed her hands over his blood-matted hair, and directed healing energy into his wounds. She cast two more of her most powerful restoration spells over him before his narrow green eyes finally opened into thin slits.

))((

He recognized her ebony face in the torchlight, but wondered why her hair and face were now smeared with blood. "Chizrae …"

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"I've got a headache like you wouldn't believe," he mildly complained in spite of his life-threatening injuries.

Chizrae sighed and shook her head at his typically laid-back understatement. "Can you walk?" She hooked her arms under his shoulders and carefully helped him stand.

"What the hell happened? I couldn't move and then something hit me from behind." He touched the back of his head and winced at the throbbing pain. Then, he turned and saw the two fresh kills behind them.

"I can finish healing you later. Right now we need to get out of here - quickly. There may be more where they came from. Here." She reached into a side pocket on her back pack and pulled out two bottles. "Drink this, and then run as fast as you can toward the exit. These feather potions won't last long, and they're all I have."

He accepted the bottle and lightly tapped his against hers in a mock toast, but there were no witty words before drinking it down. Chizrae bolted back into the winding tunnels away from the shrine. Not wanting to get lost alone in this labyrinth, Talvalo cast the bottle aside, snatched up his belongings, and raced after the streak of white hair in the darkness ahead of him. They had almost reached the cavern door, when the feather spells began to fade. Chizrae stumbled and fell to the ground under the weight of the gold in her bag once more. Though he was dizzy from pain and a cold, feverish sweat began to bead his face, Talvalo drew upon his own magic to cast one more feather spell over her, so that she could run with her burden once more. Then, he did the same for himself.

When they were both finally outside of the cavern, Chizrae paused to catch her breath and looked at the pale altmer. "Can you continue to cast that spell long enough for us to make it back to town, if I use my magic to restore yours?"

"Give me the potions. I'll do what I can." He held out his hand for them, but looked as if he were going to pass out again.

"No potions." Chizrae pulled a ring from her belt pouch and slipped it over her finger. Using the enchantment stored within the ring, she cast a spell to replenish his magicka. Then she cast another spell to restore his health.

"Thank you." He felt well enough now to cast two more feather spells upon them. Then the two elves both ran back through the swamp onto the main road toward Seyda Neen.

))((

When they reached the Tradehouse, they went straight up the stairs and knocked at the room Jiub had rented. Then Chizrae remembered she had told him to go find his friends and she hit the door with a fist. "_Xsa ol_!" she cursed.

"I should get Arrille," he weakly offered.

"I don't want to have to explain this to him." She positioned Talvalo between the rental room door and the patrons eating and drinking at the bar. Then, she proceeded to pick the lock behind his cover. When the door opened, she let the tired altmer into the room after her and shut the door behind them, re-locking it. He immediately dropped his bag and groaned with relief, but Chizrae grabbed a pitcher, a bowl, and a rag. "You can't go speak to the estate owner looking like this. You need to change clothes, and we need to wash that blood out of your hair. Does your head still hurt?"

"You have to ask? My skull was just cracked like a kwama egg." He pulled off his cloak and blood-stained shirt before crouching to dig for another through his pile of items dumped on the floor.

"Drink this." She passed him a healing potion, since her own magical energy was nearly spent. Then, she crouched behind him, soaked the rag in the water, and grabbed his ponytail to pull his head back.

"Ah!" He winced, nearly losing his balance. "No one can accuse you of having a gentle touch, can they?" Uncorking the small bottle of remedy, he drank it and cast it aside. "What is this man's name and where do I find him?"

"Go to the crossroads that lead to Pelagiad, but turn left toward the coast like you're going to Ebonheart." Chizrae dabbed at the blood stains on his head and neck. "Stay on that road until you pass a kwama mine on the left and a very large tree on the right. The fence will part and there's a long bog peninsula. You'll find his boatman at the end of that peninsula."

"And his name?" He grabbed a shirt from the pile and started to pull it on over his head, but she pushed his arms back down.

"I don't remember his name." She removed the gold clasp in his hair to squeeze more water from the rag into it, rinsing the blood away it in a rather thorough, but messy, fashion. "I don't remember his name. I spoke with him once and he said he didn't want a dark elf living in his wife's house, even though he couldn't live there without her anymore."

Talvalo shivered violently beneath the flood she was pouring down his back and reached a hand to the back of his head to block her treatment. His hand was pushed away again, but this time, he frowned at her reprimand. "That water is ice cold, and you're pulling my scalp right where the ash zombie tried to open a hole in it."

She ignored his discomfort. "At least, your hair is already red, so the blood stains blend a little. I don't want you to go looking like you've just come from a fight."

"What fight," he grumped. "I was totally helpless. I had to rely on a viscous little dark elf half my size to save me. You took on two ash monsters all by yourself and came out of it with nothing but a smudge of blood on your cheek. I was lucky to come out of it alive."

"You were attacked from behind and paralyzed."

"I should have been able to resist that spell."

"Not if you didn't see it coming, and I couldn't see them in time to warn you. Their previous death makes them cold and black."

"Black?"

"Warm blood glows in shades of red, orange, yellow, and white. Those creatures are as cold and black as the cavern itself, making them difficult to see in the dark, even for me."

He looked over his shoulder with fascination. "You see colors in the dark?"

"All drow do."

"It must be something acquired from living underground like you said once did." He thought soberly for a moment as her fingers continued to work the blood out of the hair at the back of his head. "I wonder if the dwemer were able to see colors in the dark? They lived underground."

"They used mechanical lights, so I don't think so. The only lights drow use are faerie fires and naturally glowing rocks and plants." She gave the entire length of hair one last dousing, and then grabbed the discarded shirt to dry it and check results. "That looks better." She handed his clasp back to him and stood to place the blood-stained water on the table near the bed. Then, she used the rag to mop up the mess she made on the floor.

Talvalo stood and finished pulling his green silk shirt over his head. He tightened the leather laces at the cuffs, but didn't bother with the ones at his neck. "Might as well change everything now that I'm completely drenched," he pointedly complained again.

"I'll get you something to eat before you leave." Chizrae opened the door and exited without looking back. She went to the bar and placed an order for a plate of saltrice with ash yam, a corner of bread, and an apple. When she returned to the room and tried to open the door, she felt a solid hit on the other side and heard Talvalo curse. Peering around the edge of the door, she found him behind it, holding his long, damp hair gathered in one hand while picking up the gold clasp from the floor in the other. "What are you doing back there? If you stand behind the door like an idiot, you're going to get hit when it opens." Shaking her head at his stupidity, she closed the door again and offered the apple.

He accepted and bit into it. "I'm not the one who put the mirror behind the door."

"Well, you're the idiot who chose to stand there, rather than moving it somewhere else." She took the gold clasp, moved behind him, and finger-combed his distressed red mane back into it. Then, she moved back in front of him to judge whether he was clean and suitable enough to impress the stubborn human who owned the estate.

He took another bite of his apple as he was being judged. "Do I pass inspection, General?"

"It would help if you dressed more like the duke's whipping boy."

"I didn't have room for the duke's wardrobe in my back pack." Talvalo moved to her bag and began to empty it. "Speaking of which, I need something to carry the money in, and yours is smaller and lighter." He left one of the money sacks in the back pack and, after pulling on his cloak, pulled the lighter bag across his shoulder. "Are you going with me or staying here?"

The drow wrung her hands for a indecisive moment. "I should stay."

The altmer took note of the unusual gesture and hesitation. "You hide your stash in a den of decaying monsters, but you're nervous about signing a piece of paper?"

She hated having to depend on him to do this for her. "If he sees me he might not be willing to bargain with you." Chizrae tried to wipe the smudge from her cheek, but ended up smearing it instead.

Talvalo smiled lightly. "Well, I may not be much of a body guard, but I can certainly bullshit my way around Imperial aristocracy." The altmer excused himself from the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

The drow went to the mirror behind the door, stared at her own blood-stained appearance, then sighed and paced across the room. There was nothing she could do now except wait.

))((

The rain had let up to a light mist and the sun was just beginning to set over the bayou as Talvalo reached the end of the peninsula. The boatman was right where Chizrae had said he would be. "Hello," he called to the human as he drew closer. "I heard from a friend of mine that you happen to be selling a very private house."

"Oh, I am, ... but it's not my house. The master built it for his elven wife, but since she left him, he can't bear to live there anymore. He left and asked me to close out his business for him."

Talvalo came to a halt before the man and smiled in a charming, confident manner. "If it was built with an elf in mind, perhaps one such as myself would make an adequate caretaker. What is your asking price?"

Encouraged, the boatman handed him a piece of paper with general information about the house, a floor plan, and the price. "I'm sure the master would be delighted if another elf assumed ownership."

"Even if I were a dark elf?" Talvalo skimmed the list of features.

The boatman shifted uneasily. "Well, the truth is, sir, ... the master came from a strong Imperial bloodline. I think he had some unpleasant experiences with dunmer, if you know what I mean."

Talvalo looked up from the list. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Well, you know their sort. They're as dirty as the Ashlands they come from, ... primitive savages who have no appreciation for what the Empire is trying to do for them."

"I can't imagine why the dirty little imps wouldn't appreciate the Empire taking over their land, exploiting their resources, and cultivating them into the ways of the Nine Divines. After all, the Empire is only trying to teach them how to be more civil and offer them a little wealth and political stability."

"Well, … exactly."

Talvalo sighed at the boatman's agreement and turned his attention back to the list. At least this Imperial wasn't one of the true blue-bloods, or he wouldn't have been sounded so uncertain about it.

"The master was very fond of other elves, mind you - particularly the bosmer. His wife was bosmer. Broke his heart when she left."

Talvalo finished reading the list and looked up, very impressed. "I'll take it."

"You will?" The boatman wasn't expecting such an easy sell. "But you haven't even seen it yet."

"No need to. It's already found a place in my heart, knowing the devotion that must have gone into creating it."

The boatman smiled. "Well, in that case, sir, it was a pleasure to do business with you." He reached into his pocket for the key and passed it to Talvalo. Then he beckoned for him to follow him onto the boat, so they could do the paperwork for the deed. "I'll give you one copy, take another to the records offices in Seyda Neen, and take the third copy to the master. The island is private, but it's under Seyda Neen's jurisdiction in the eyes of the Empire. That's where you'll pay your taxes."

"Perfectly understandable."

"Do you need me to row you in?"

"No, thanks. I can handle it from here." Talvalo signed his name on the papers, assuming ownership.

When he had finished, the Imperial human looked over the information. "Cyrodiil," he grinned in recognition. "From where do you hail in Cyrodiil?"

"My mother owns a horse farm near Imperial City - it's down the road a bit from the town of Weye. My elder brother runs the estate now, and I have a sister in the Elven Gardens district of Imperial City as well."

"Small world. My master's residence is now in the Talos Plaza district. In fact, I remember an elven horse farm out toward Chorrol - that's where I'm from originally. Belonged to Lord Shalonethyr, I believe."

Talvalo nodded in reluctant agreement. "That would be us. The view from the highlands looking toward the White-Gold Tower is magnificent on a clear day. I have a bosmer friend out toward Chorrol - druid by trade, Fionna Moonforest. She wouldn't set foot in the city, so if I wanted to see her, I had to ride all the way past Chorrol into the highland forest." He pulled the money from his sack and passed it to him. "Guess that's why there aren't many druids in Cyrodiil - too civilized for their taste. I might try coaxing her to visit Morrowind now that I'm investing in an inn, though. Do you think many people from Chorrol or Imperial City would find it a nice place to vacation?"

"Oh, yes. Absolutely." The boatman was almost becoming as excited for Talvalo's plans as he was. "Heartlanders have come to think of Morrowind as some kind of exotic adventure, but they'd prefer the luxury of staying on a secure island to pitching a tent in the Ashlands, I'm sure. Would you like me to spread word that it's now open as a public inn?"

"If you don't mind. I'll contact you in the Talos Plaza district with some printed advertisements the next time I go home. I can print something about it in the _Black Horse Courier_ as well. That's half the asking price, by the way." Talvalo gestured toward the money he had given. "I'll leave the other half at the excise offices for you to pick up at your leisure. If I'm not as good as my word on the matter, you can hunt me down. You'll know where to find me," he added with a friendly smile.

"Excellent. Oh, and the key is enchanted, so if you don't lose it, it can always bring you home." The boatman rose and offered a hand shake to close the deal on good terms. "There are a couple of employees that have chosen to stay on if the new owner wants their services, but most of the hired help has already left. It was very nice to meet you, Lord Shalonethyr. I wish you the best of luck with your new home."

"Thank you." Talvalo nodded in strange deference to hearing his formal title used for the first time in a long time. The boatman stepped away from the boat, and they both waved in parting. Then the altmer watched the Imperial walk away with Chizrae's precious bag of hard-earned gold. "That was almost too easy," he muttered to himself. Tapping the deed in his hand for a moment, he then tucked it into the empty sack. Hopping out of the boat into the shallow water, he gave the stern a strong push to set it afloat. Then, he climbed back in and sat down. Grasping the oars, he set out across the water toward some tall rocks in the distance that he suspected was his destination. He wanted to see what he owned before handing it over to the drow.

))((

Chizrae had washed her face and hair, but remained in the same dirty travel clothing as she sat in the noisy common room and anxiously nursed a beer. When she saw Talvalo ascending the stairs, however, she set down the beer and practically knocked over her chair as she jumped up to greet him. "Well? How'd it go?"

"It was a pleasant walk, actually. The rain stopped and the colors of the dusk were amazing with all those clouds to filter the sunlight."

Chizrae scowled. "I'm not talking about the damned walk or sunset and you know it."

Talvalo opened the pack. "Then I'm afraid that I have some bad news, Chiz. ... Can I call you that now? Jiub calls you that, and since I'm your husband, I assume there's a little reward of familiarity in what I can call you."

The drow stepped back, and her face washed with disappointment. "Bad news?"

"I'm afraid I don't have your savings anymore because I gambled all your money on this." He pulled the rolled deed from the bag and waggled it lightly in front of her nose.

"You got it!" Chizrae snatched the deed from his fingers and opened the scroll to read it for herself. "You got the deed!" With an uncharacteristic, ear-piercing squeal of delight, she threw her arms around his neck in gratitude. "Yes! That island is finally mine!" Chizrae pulled back and opened the deed to re-read it, as if unable to believe her fortune. "I own a house - a house of my own!"

Talvalo was pleased that she was pleased. "I toured it before coming back. Have you seen it yet?"

"The owner wouldn't let me get past the request to buy it. But I could see part of it from standing on the other side of the swamp." She rerolled the scroll and looked back to him with hesitation. "Is it ... okay? Please tell me I didn't buy a lemon."

He smiled. "I think you'll like it. Would you like to go see it?"

"Yes! Jiub should be back tomorrow, but I can't wait that long to sleep in my new house!" The drow dashed into the rented room to begin collecting her things.

Talvalo chuckled at her reaction to the deed and followed her into the room to also repack his bag. "I'll need another sack of ten-thousand to take to the census office for the owner's boatman to pick up tomorrow to make up the full cost."

Chizrae passed him one of the sacks. "Go ahead and do that, then. I'll meet you at the bridge."

"I've still got the ton of money in my sack from the cavern. This one's yours," he reminded her, passing her back pack to her.

She was stumped for a brief moment at her forgetfulness. "I knew that." She frowned and snatched the sack of money and her back pack from him.

The altmer picked up a few items from his pile on the floor - things he couldn't live without, including his journal. He pulled one sack from his bag to make room for the other items and then shouldered the incredibly heavy burden once more. "At the bridge," he told her before leaving.

The drow threw her clothing into her bag and stuffed the remaining money sacks in with them, but then paused for a moment when she realized he might take the remaining money for himself and run. Of course, he could have done that before, but now that they were married and she had the deed, if he ran with the money, she would be the one jailed for defaulting on the contract, and she would lose the estate as well as what she had already paid for it. In jail, she wouldn't be able to hunt him down to reclaim her money or get revenge for his thievery. Chizrae looked down at the deed in her hands and chastised herself for being foolish to trust him. He had basically admitted that he could never stick around to operate the inn, and she still fell for his silver tongue and smooth promises. Growling to herself at her own stupidity, the dark elf cursed herself and finished packing as quickly as she could.

When she was ready to go, she left the room and reset the lock, as if she'd never disturbed it. The bag was just light enough now to be carried without magical aid, but it was pretty slow moving through the crowd and down the stairs.

"Greetings and Salutations!"

Chizrae grimaced at the sound of Fargoth's voice behind her. She paused, but then just as she thought he was near enough, she turned and swung the backpack a little too freely from her shoulder. "Yes?"

"Waooouf!" The pack collided with the side of the small bosmer's face and sent him sprawling to the floor.

"Hm. No one there." The drow pretended to be ignorant of her 'accident' and hurried out of the Tradehouse.

She ran all the way to the bridge, but then slowed as she approached it. Much to her relief, Talvalo stood waiting for her. "That was quick," she commented to cover her suspicions of betrayal.

"I'm fast." He answered, as if reading her thoughts. "Well, actually, I ran into Socucious again, so I gave him the money to take to the excise office. Ready to see the island?"

"Yes." She anxiously nodded, wondering if he realized that, for a moment, he held the advantage in their deal. He was a scrupulous elf, so she was sure that he did, ... yet he was still here.

"After you," he gestured toward the road.

"After you," she returned, wanting to keep an eye on him now. "I insist."

Talvalo sighed. "Not this again. You have to be the most paranoid person I've ever met." He shook his head and led the way down the road toward his new estate with his new wife in tow behind him. "I'm beginning to wonder what in the world made me pick you out of the crowd for a mercenary deal? Since speaking with you, I've been cheated out of my pay - not once, but twice. I've had to walk half of Vvardenfell in half the time that I usually do. You called me a letch after reading my private journal. You pushed me into some ruins as front line fodder and used me as a pack guar on our return. And now, even on our wedding day, I get bashed in the head by ash creatures because you hid money in some place that even a daedra wouldn't think was fit to live in. And in spite of all of that, you don't trust me to walk to the end of the road with you?"

"You've got half of my money."

"You've got the deed," he argued. "What's mine is yours."

"Exactly. What's mine is yours. And I won't have you running away with it, leaving me to default on the contract and be jailed while you escape back to Cyrodiil. ... Because it's _not_ yours it's _mine_."

The battlemage stopped walking and faced her with a doubtful expression for that roundabout logic. "First of all, I wouldn't escape to Cyrodiil. I'd go some place where I could spend it all lavishly and quickly before you could catch me - like Mournhold. Secondly, you've brought my headache back just trying to untwist that and make sense of it." He started to add more, but then changed his mind, shook his head, and kept walking. No point in continuing down that line of conversation.

Talvalo and Chizrae walked until they came to the longboat, and then he waited for her to climb aboard before pushing off into the water. Chizrae turned in her seat and moved to the end of the boat. "I can't see in the dark like you do," he warned as she anxiously grasped the sides and awaited her first glimpse of her new home. "Look for a wall of trees and rocks. It's meant to blend with the surroundings, but there's an ivy-covered gate with huge doors among them. The gates will open for the one who holds the key."

"Stone does not live, and trees do not have warm blood. With shades of grey, I can't see much better in the dark than you can, but you will find it because you have been there once before."

Talvalo smirked to himself. "Well, it's nice to know I've finally won your vote of confidence about _something_."

As he continued to guide the boat, Chizrae began to see the shadowed outlines of a large fortress before them. When the boat drew closer, she could hear the enchanted doors unlock and open. Within the gates, she was able to see the torchlight of the docks, and it was easy for him to guide the boat inside from there. As the doors magically closed and locked behind them, the drow drew in a breath and tried to visually drink in all of the estate - her estate. The two-story, half-timber inn was the closest building to the docks. The natural-looking fortress wall extended further than her eye could see, but in the center of the property, at a far distance, she could make out the lights of the main house's front gate.

Talvalo tied the boat securely, and then both of them disembarked. Hefting their heavy bags one final time, he led her through the new property - their new property. "The inn," he gestured, very pleased with his cut of the deal. "Tomorrow I can take you to meet the Redguard merchant that ran the place for the previous owner. I was able to talk to him when I came earlier today. He's pleased that I made the purchase and was happy to hear about Selena and her potions."

"What's that fire over there in the cauldron?" She pointed to her far left.

"That would be the smith's place. I met him too. Everyone else is gone." He gestured a little beyond the forge. "Those cottages tucked away over there are the guest and servant quarters. There's space for a few small gardens over there, and there's a larger garden space near the shed at the back wall behind the main house."

Though the main house was of obvious human design, there were signs everywhere that this estate was designed for, and needed to be cared for, by an elven touch - like the archway that was a magically grown vine, so common to Telvanni architecture. Chizrae walked past the flower beds in bloom and listened to the wind chimes ringing among the trees, as she silently drank in every detail. Then, setting the key into the latch of the door, she entered her new home.

Imperial interior design meant warm, decoratively carved beams of wood on the walls and ceiling. They passed through the anteroom into the main living area, and Talvalo picked up one of the lanterns that stayed lit near the front door. After they dropped their heavy loads, he took her through the house to show her each and every room. Then, he took her out through the back door to show her the large pond just beneath the deck. Chizrae leaned on the wooden rail and lifted her eyes to the sky, visible through the circle of moss-laden trees around the pond. It was still cloudy, but she could see part of the moon peeking at them from behind the clouds.

Talvalo lifted his gaze to the moon as well. Three-quarters of the way through its cycle. He was thoughtful for a moment, but then leaned against the rail and set the lantern on a post. "Well? Do you like it?"

"It's perfect." Chizrae lowered her gaze toward him. "Thank you, Talvalo."

"You're very welcome." He inclined his head in a slight bow. "But it's I who should be thanking you for letting me in on your investment. I imagine you'd like to stash your money first to make sure I don't steal it in the night?"

She laughed lightly. "I would like to go to bed, actually. I'm exhausted. Let's take the bags upstairs and I'll look for a new hiding place tomorrow."

He nodded in accordance with her wishes and followed her back inside. Picking up his pack, he opened the door leading up to the second floor, but paused to wait while she dug a dwemer goblet out of her pack. He was surprised that she had brought something so unnecessary, but then was amused to see her dust it off and set it on the shelf near the back door.

"Something to make a house feel like a home," she commented to his skeptical expression. "You're the one that told me I should keep one as a trophy of accomplishment."

"So I am," he agreed. "After you?" He gestured to the stairs.

Chizrae thought about it for a moment, then gave a small nod. Hefting her back pack onto her shoulder, she headed up the stairs in front of him. The main bedroom was at the top of the stairs with a large bed right in the center, flush against the wall between two bay windows. She set down her bag and ran a hand over the silk wall screen near the desk.

"I'll sleep in the guest room, but you'd probably feel better if I left this here." He set his pack down, laden with the remainder of her savings, and removed his belongings - including his journal and writing supplies. "Good night."

"Good night," she returned as he left and closed the door behind him. Chizrae removed her boots, but didn't bother to waste time changing clothes. She crawled onto the bed and stretched out on it enjoying the luxury. Her bed - it belonged to her. Smiling to herself with satisfaction, she rolled onto her side and tucked a hand under her pillow. It wasn't long after closing her eyes that she fell into the deepest sleep that she'd had in a long, long time.

))((

In the guest room, Talvalo had set up the lantern and opened his journal to record the date and the day's events.

_ "This day didn't go at all like I expected, but it's turned out well in the end. Chiz and I got married in Seyda Neen. Then, I was nearly killed by an ash zombie when I helped her retrieve her savings from an abandoned Sixth House shrine. Apparently it has some new residents she hadn't counted on when she chose to do her banking there. I was surprised, but she saved my life. How can I ever repay a debt like that? I easily persuaded an Imperial to sell me the deed to an estate she's been wanting. She seems appreciative - and the happiest that I've seen her yet. Since we're married and my name is on the deed, the estate is mine, too, ... for now. Perhaps the best wedding present I can give her is a ready divorce tomorrow so she can have it all to herself. I just hope she remembers to keep her promise about letting me keep half the inn's profits. Although, sometimes, I find myself wondering if perhaps, ..."_

Talvalo paused in writing and looked to his door toward the hall between their rooms. He thought this must be how the previous owner felt showing his wife the estate for the first time. It was an unlikely home for someone like the drowess, but he could already see the healing effects a place like this might have on her soul - her place of peace. He tapped the feather end of his quill lightly against his chin for a moment, and then he scratched it against the page in the book once more.

_ "Of course not. If I cannot remember who I am from month to month, then how could I possibly stay with her longer than that. And I doubt she would want that. Either way, my time here is running short. The business of the inn must take priority tomorrow. Still, there are those rare moments when she lets her guard down. In spite of her chaotic nature - no, perhaps because of her chaotic nature - she is truly a complex person. This is what I want to remember most about the raven-skinned Chizrae."_

))((

When Chizrae woke the next morning, she smiled to herself and stretched luxuriously on her new bed. She lay there for a moment, staring at the room's plain furnishings, already thinking of ways to add personal touches. Finally, she sighed and stood to look out one of the bay windows to the ground below. The daylight brought out the green of the trees and all the colors in the flowers. It was even more beautiful than under the moonlight. She felt like pinching herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

Grabbing a change of clothing, she opened the door and padded down the long hall to the indoor bath room - a luxury in and of itself. The hardwood floor was cold beneath her bare feet, a fire was already burning in the fireplace to warm the room. The waterfall that streamed from a basin high on the wall into the tub gave off a steamy mist. And the room was lightly scented with something that smelled wonderful. Chizrae closed the door behind her and walked past the barren shelves to the basin cabinet next to the tub. There, she found a used cake of almond soap and a small bottle of men's cologne. Quirking a brow, she lifted both items to her nose. That was the scent that had appealed to her. Talvalo was apparently an early riser, and he was already making himself at home in her home. Too bad she was going to have to kick him out.

Stripping off her dirty travel clothing from the day before, she climbed into the tub to stand under the hot waterfall for a moment. Most drow lived for scented, hot baths and good massages. In this respect, she would probably never change, no matter how many years she lived on the surface.

))((

In the library in the basement level of the estate, Talvalo ran his fingertips loosely over the empty shelves as he sauntered casually down the center aisle. Considering that some other furnishings had been left behind, it was unusual to see such a rich house so completely empty of books - well, not _completely_. When he came to a stop at the alcove at the back of the room, he noticed there was one book on a low stand.

The two side walls in the alcove bore tapestry maps of Morrowind with incredible detail in their weave. The wall between them bore two shelves that were labeled with the names of various cities scattered around the land. The book beneath them looked like it had seen better days at some point in its recent past, but had endured much over a short time.

Curious, Talvalo crouched to open the book and read just the first page, but he became so drawn into the tale that it introduced, that he lifted the book to carry it with him. He continued to read as he walked back between the rows of bookcases to the library door, then paused and looked back over his shoulder to the alcove with mild astonishment. "Realmsfade?"


	6. Chapter 6: Realmsfade

Chapter 6: Realmsfade

Chizrae's freshly cleaned hair clung to her face and neck as she returned to her room from her bath. There, she began the task of emptying the backpacks into piles of money bags, clothes in need of washing, and miscellaneous items. After staring at the bags of gold for a moment, she began to ponder good hiding places, and her eyes searched the room for possibilities. She paced, checking cabinets and shelves, and was just about to give up, when she leaned against the wall near the fireplace and the wall creaked.

The drow turned around and studied the wall, carefully feeling it with her slender fingertips until they found a well-camouflaged latch - a hidden door. Smiling to herself, she pushed it open and walked into a large closet complete with trunks and shelves. Walking the length of the room-sized closet, she decided to test the other two blank walls and found another latch similar to the one in the bedroom. Pushing open the second hidden door, she stepped out onto the slope of her thatched roof. The morning air on her fortressed island smelled like a blend of forest and ocean. Chizrae smiled, drew in a breath of that scented air, and admired the panorama. From that high point, she could see everything. Pleased with her discovery, she hurried back into the bedroom and began carrying bags of gold into the hidden room, setting them in the trunks. Once she had stored away the remainder of her fortune, she saved out one bag of gold and, using an enchanted amulet, she set magical warding glyphs on all the trunks and both hidden doors. Satisfied that her treasure was safe, she went downstairs to peruse the kitchen for something to eat.

Her stomach growled in an unforgiving manner as she searched for food in the cupboards, but everything was empty, as she expected. Giving up on her quest for food, she left the kitchen for the stairs that led down to the level beneath the house. Talvalo wasn't in his room or the kitchen, so she figured he must be down there. She was just about to place her hand on the door to the stairwell, when it opened and he came out.

"Good morning, Chizrae." He looked up from his absorbed reading. "You look nice today. You must have slept well?"

She looked down at her outfit - nothing different or fancy, so it hardly seemed worth complimenting. But he looked more refreshed than he had in a while, so maybe he was just in another one of his poetic moods. "That was the best sleep I've had in a year. Do you know if the inn sells food?"

"I imagine it does." He closed the book and offered it to her. "I found this in the library. I think you should read it."

"Later." She waved him off. "Our travel food ran out, and I'm starved."

He set the book on the chest of drawers facing the door and stepped out into the morning sun with her, but decided the information he found couldn't wait. "It's the previous owner's journal. He speaks of his wife in it, and why he built the manor for her. His family was a strong bloodline of Imperials, but he had chosen to marry an elf," he lightly corrected her earlier misunderstanding.

Talvlao continued to summarize as they walked. "His family didn't approve. His grandfather was a powerful mage and disapproved of this union because the elf was the daughter of his sworn enemy. Anyway, the grandfather had some magical books - Realmsfade books - that could teleport him to various places throughout Morrowind. The owner brought them here and had special shelves made for them in the library. He used them so frequently to go exploring, that his wife became jealous. She wouldn't go with him because she was afraid that the old mage had cursed them to destroy her if she passed through them, because of her father.

"One night the temptation to explore became too strong, and he left her side. But she had taken his house key. He was lost and had nothing on him to survive in the wilderness or pay for services in towns, so it took him a long time to walk all the way back home. And when he did return, he found that she had taken all of his books and scattered them to the four winds. He was devastated, both for the loss of the books and the loss of his wife. And on top of that, he was attacked in the wilderness by something that sounds a lot like a corprus monster, the way he describes it. He was in a bad condition and knew he was probably dying - and contagious. I'm thinking that's about the time you ran into him - right after word got out that he put the estate up for sale."

"Well, that would explain why he was in such a bad mood," she muttered in a rather flat tone.

"It would also explain why he left in such a hurry and wanted to sell the house to someone who would care for it the way he originally intended. He gave the key to his boatman and said he was going to try to find something called a ... Corprusarium."

"It's a private dungeon owned by a man who was trying to find a cure for the disease." Chizrae faced Talvalo as he easily kept pace with her. "If not for that place, I would have died of corprus, too. He did find a cure, but he's in such a remote location that reaching him in time is not likely for most victims. Our Imperial scholar will probably die before he gets there because it's on the opposite side of the continent," she added in a rather cold tone.

Talvalo looked down at the smaller elf strolling beside him. "Not a stitch of sympathy for the poor man? He lost everything he loved, ... and nearly his life. Although, I'm assuming he found his cure if he's in Talos Plaza now."

"His loss is my gain." She shrugged. "He disliked me because I was a dark elf, and he paid more attention to his books than his wife. He got what he deserved."

Talvalo frowned slightly at her lack of compassion for the subject of the tale. "He made a mistake, and he was incredibly sorry for it afterwards. There was no need for her to lock him out like that and ruin the rest of his life. If they could have talked before she left, I'm sure he would have apologized to her."

"Too little too late. He wanted to roam, so she set him free. Sometimes you must be careful of what you desire; you just might get it." Her eyes shifted side-long toward him, as if trying to drive a secondary point home to him.

Talvalo quieted for a somber moment, then needed to look toward something other than her unforgiving expression. He turned his attention to the moss swaying gently in the trees, and then the dew still beading the grass. "You should try to recover those books, you know. They're out there somewhere. She left him a note saying they were in the cities they were named for. That's why he left his journal for the next owner to read - so that the Realmsfade books could be recovered."

"I don't want to waste my time hunting down lost books. I need jobs that will pay money."

"But the books could make travel to those jobs easier. You could just open a book to Dagon Fel instead of having to take silt striders and boats. Think of it as an investment of your time that will save you money."

Chizrae stopped at the door outside of the inn and turned to face him. "Another investment? I haven't seen how your first investment will turn out yet."

"I'll find them for you - no charge."

She quirked a brow. "No charge? Why? What do you get out of this?"

"Same thing you do - free travel to anywhere, anytime. There's a spare key hanging next to the door in the manor. Both keys are enchanted to teleport the holder to the anteroom. If I keep one of the enchanted keys to the house, along with those enchanted books, then I can come and go as needed to do business for the inn. Unlike the previous owner's wife, I doubt you'll mind me being absent occasionally. That was our deal, was it not? I am allowed to keep the inn and guest houses, as long as I stay out of your way."

"You'd be popping in and out of my house, not the inn," she lightly argued.

"Well, there is that." He was quiet for a moment again, but then finally shook his head. "Never mind. You're right. It's a bad idea." Stepping around her, he grasped the door handle to the inn.

Chizrae frowned with suspicion at his change of heart. "I didn't say it was a bad idea. I said I didn't want to do it. If you want to chase after the books, I'm not going to stop you."

He released the handle and turned to face her once more. "It's not the going that worries me, it's the coming back. Being able to easily teleport back into the house, it's just a bad idea." He dug into his pocket and retrieved the key to the manor, holding it out to her.

The drow accepted her key, but was puzzled. "Staying out of my hair doesn't mean you have to leave now. You haven't even started the inn yet."

"I'm going to let the innkeeper manage the place. I can set out the plans with him and meet him once a month at the Tradehouse to pick up my profits."

Chizrae's brows drew together at this odd self-imposed restriction. "And what will you be doing while he's following your orders for business?"

He shrugged and gave a half-hearted smile. "More mercenary hire, of course. And advertising. I can drum up business for people to come here. I can send letters informing you of any potential guests, and Jiub can check them out to make sure they're the kind of people who would respectfully leave you alone."

She nodded in acceptance of that. "We haven't drawn up a contract for the inn or divorce yet."

"We should do it today."

"I have to meet Jiub, and several others, in Seyda Neen today. It would be better to do it tomorrow," she suggested.

"No later than tomorrow, then. I have to meet my brother in Gnisis, and that's a long way from here - especially without two hundred septims to pay for a silt strider ride," he lightly reminded her.

Chizrae looked down at the key in her hand. "I have to take that old book to the Telvanni mage in Gnisis. We should travel together since we're both heading the same way. I can pay for the silt strider fares and your wages, including a payment for signing the deed, now that I have my savings with me." She could tell by Talvalo's expression, however, that he didn't seem to like her suggestion. The drow placed a hand on her hip as if insulted. "Tired of traveling with me already?"

"No, no. I just ..." The altmer sighed in resignation and gave her a reluctant nod. "Okay." He reached once more for the door handle and allowed her to enter before him.

Chizrae found that the interior of the inn was much more elegant than she first imagined. There was a small waterfall at the back of the dining room, and the floor was covered in tapestry carpeting. If he was going to be inviting nobility to her island, this would definitely offer a dining experience to meet their tastes. Behind the bar, a Redguard man was stocking his shelves, but he paused and turned to see who had come inside.

"Narsean, this is Chizrae ..., Chizrae ..." Talvalo snapped his fingers a few times trying to remember her family name, but then gave up and shrugged. "She's the new joint owner of this establishment."

The Redguard was clearly surprised to see that she was a dark elf - a _very_ dark elf - considering the former owner's prejudices, but he smiled in a friendly manner and extended a hand to her in a firm handshake. "The pleasure is all mine. I was a little worried that the new owner might make me leave, but when your husband came in to talk with me last night, he asked me to stay on and just keep doing what I'm doing."

Chizrae smiled as pleasantly as she could, but it was strange to hear Talvalo referred to in such a familiar manner when she barely knew him.

))((

That afternoon as clouds moved in and rain began to sprinkle, Chizrae returned to Seyda Neen to meet with Jiub, as promised, and lead him and their past acquaintances to the manor. Talvalo tagged along to speak with Selena again, but found himself in the company of a rather unlikely mix of characters. Besides Selena, there were two other gold elves, two wood elves, two Bretons, two Imperials, a khajiit, and an orc.

"Look for the egg mine on the left, and then beyond that next large tree, turn right," she gave the easy landmarks over her shoulder to the group of people walking behind her. "A boat will be waiting for you there. ... Speaking of which, I need some boatmen."

"I can do that," Bodil offered. The small bosmer thief with long blond braids was a friend of Jiub's. "It's just taking people in and out, right?"

"Well, you would be the first security pass. If they do not have a valid invitation, you will have to keep them from coming in. There's also wildlife out here that may come a little too close."

"Not a problem. Sign me up, ... unless you'd rather me guard your private chambers." He gave the drow a sly smirk meant only for her.

The drowess smiled lightly in return. "You were very good at that, as I remember. But right now I just need a boatman."

Talvalo's brows rose with mild interest overhearing this. Apparently, the drow did appreciate sleeping with something other than her sword now and then.

"I want a position as a bodyguard," the orc spoke next as they walked up the long dirt road through the bayou toward the coast. "I am a strong warrior. I would gladly help you fight daedra and skeletons. None can match my strength," he happily boasted.

"That's why I'm offering you position as grounds guard of the estate, gro-Nob," Chizrae told him.

The orc frowned in disgust so that the tusks of his bottom jaw protruded. "Guarding a house is no job for a mighty warrior."

"Then think of it as a castle keep and you are captain of the guard."

"I would rather go to daedric shrines and tombs. That is where strength is needed. Much more interesting job than standing in front of a house like a monkey statue."

"You can't help but look like a monkey statue, gro-Nob - a very large, green monkey statue, " Jiub quipped, drawing a few chuckles from the others in their company.

The orc shifted his bulging, yellow eyes toward the dark elf and growled low from the back of his throat. "Jiub should take guard position for the house. He's good at standing around doing nothing." Though it made the dunmer thief return the orc's frown, the return jab drew a few more chuckles from everyone else in the group - everyone except Selena.

Selena looked a bit uncomfortable among such unruly companions and picked up her pace a little to walk at Talvalo's side. "What's your job?"

He was so caught up in trying to read Chizrae's new companions that he had almost forgotten the female altmer was among them, until she spoke. "I own the inn."

She smiled with delight. "That's why you're interested in my potions."

"That's right."

"What kind of potions?" the Breton woman slightly behind her asked.

"I make very special potions," Selena answered. "They're old family secrets, but common people can't afford them, I'm afraid."

The Breton woman held her tongue and nodded slightly at the altmer's unintended insult. "I make a few potions myself. I'm a witch healer. My name is Aria. My mother taught me how to make poisons, but I prefer to learn the healing aspects of alchemy. We're very different ... my mother and I."

"Perhaps the two of you can work together," Talvalo suggested.

"Oh, I don't know," Selena hesitated. The altmer elf looked at the Breton human. "Well, maybe. You remind me a little of my sister. She left a family of wizards to study healing in Seyda Neen. Why she chose such a low lot in life, I'll never know, but she seems happy with it. My potions are not restorative, but perhaps you can learn something that will help you boost your own potions strengths."

Aria lifted a brow at the condescending tone, but again bit her tongue to avoid starting anything unpleasant just yet.

Talvalo slipped an arm behind the human's waist to distract from Selena's noble assessment. "I think it's a splendid idea. If you have been intelligent and motivated enough to teach yourself restorative herbalism that speaks volumes about your courage and perseverance. Just think of what you could teach Selena about white witchcraft. Why, you're practically already sisters in skills." He put another arm behind the gold elf's waist so that he was comfortably nestled between the two women as the walked. "I can't imagine a more charming, lovely partnership."

Both women blushed with light smiles.

"Well, I'm supposing that Chizrae has chosen job positions to fill according to the professions we already have," a slightly older Imperial woman with long brown hair spoke. Shazi walked arm-in-arm with an older man, also Imperial. His hair had turned gray already making him look much older than his wife, but he was by no means a physical weakling.

Jiub had been disgusted watching Talvalo ply his charms more than his profession. It visibly annoyed him how the altmer's blatant flattery always managed to work. "Chiz is hiring me for security. If she can't worry over someone sneaking up on her when she least expects it, her life isn't complete."

"Of course, I may end up throwing him into his own traps to test them." The drowess cut him a flat look of tolerance for his verbal prodding. "I don't want anyone to be able to enter the island without my consent. That means physical patrolling of the grounds will be necessary in order to eliminate any possible threats." She looked to the orc, hoping that made him feel better about her offer.

"Rather strict, don't you think?" the older man at Shazi's side asked.

"Not at all," Chizrae answered. "In Balmora recently, a common horse trainer recognized me as House Hortator and brought up the Nerevarine Prophecy, pointing me out in a public display. Then, he reminded every person in that room that the second half of the prophesy has yet to be fulfilled. You of all people, Olin, should recognize what will happen if the Empire begins to see me a threat."

The priest laughed. "The Empire loves you, Chizrae. By slaying Dagoth Ur, you removed on a thorn that has been stuck in the Imperial paw for centuries. You might have been able to convince the native Ashlanders that you were their Nerevarine, but that doesn't mean the Empire bought its own lies. They will not fear the second half of the prophecy any more than they revered the first half of it."

Chizrae flashed him a small glance of doubt.

"Do _you_ think you're the Nerevarine?" he pointedly asked her.

She wasn't about to tell him of the tests that she had to endure from the tribes, or the words that Azura spoke to her. "I am Chizrae Velve'Xukuth. My soul is my own."

"That is how the Empire sees it, too," Olin assured her. "The Empire needed someone capable of being accepted as Nerevar, and you happened to be in the right place at the right time."

She kept walking, but turned accusingly to the priest. "They say it's a farce, but deep down they're afraid I might really be the Incarnate."

The priest shook his head at her stubbornness, but he realized that trying to rid her of her paranoia was futile. "Then I suppose you don't have a position for me. After all, I am a priest of the Imperial Temple and its Nine Divines. I might be a spy, moonlighting with the Blades to collect information on you."

Jiub looked over his shoulder to the priest at his bold comment. "If I find out that's true …"

"It's not true," Olin quickly defended. "I'm just saying, that if she's fortressing herself against the Empire, then it's rather odd for her to invite myself and Shazi into her keep."

"Olin, I do not need another healer or mage. I'm offering residence to you and Shazi because I want you to moonlight for me." Chizrae gave the Imperial pair a hard stare.

"So, you want us to stand around looking like official Imperial presence, all the while being your spies instead?"

Chizrae lifted her chin and awaited their answers. Jiub watched their faces for any hidden reluctance that he might need to be wary of in the future. Almost everyone in their unit paused on their walk and turned to view the couple. Talvalo, having lived in Imperial City most of his life, knew that most Imperials were very proud of their Empire and were very loyal to it, regardless of where they spread out and took up residence. For the drow to ask them to be her spies within their own government was no doubt insulting.

"And if we decline?" Shazi asked.

Chizrae tilted her chin slightly. "If you leave now before you arrive at my keep, I will do nothing to stop you."

"What if we attend, but then change our minds?"

"Then you become Jiub's responsibility to deal with," she honestly told them. After a moment of reading their unhappy expressions, she decided to add, "I don't wish for it to come to that, of course, but I will do what I must to protect myself. The same fate would be true of anyone of you who thinks to betray me once I allow you inside, ... including Jiub. You're all on even ground here, I assure you. You've all known from the first time we met that I hold no pretenses of trust."

"Does that mean you'll be disarming us?" someone else asked.

Talvalo looked to the speaker - the only other altmer in the group. This male had the same typical pale green eyes as himself and Selena, but his razor-cut hair was short and black. Talvalo could also tell he was a fellow mercenary - one that had spent years on the outer fringe of high elven society in the Summerset Isles, by the looks of his battered black armor and array of visible tattoos. The fighter cast the battlemage a bitter glance, and the battlemage knew he was being categorized as an Imperialist sympathizer simply because of their obvious class differences.

"Elgian, your blade is the most agile among this company, other than my own," the drow told the dark-haired altmer. "I wish you to be my new master of weapons. If I disarmed you, you wouldn't be able to do your job."

"I can't teach you anything you don't already know."

"But I need a worthy sparring partner. When you are not training with me, you can patrol the grounds with gro-Nob." She turned toward the other bosmer elf in their company - a female with curly blond hair and large green eyes. "Bree, your bow would be most advantageous among the trees and the top of the outer wall."

The wood elf smiled. "Sounds like I'll be right at home, then. What about housing?"

"There's enough housing for everyone in the guest houses for now. It will be free since your pay is not much until the inn can turn profits from outside the walls, but I will divide it according to your jobs. Does that sound reasonable?"

The khajiit came forward to face Chizrae. "What forrrr Mia?" she asked with a soft purr.

"Mia, I know that you prefer to be outdoors, and your herbalism and healing skills are different from either Aria's or Selena's with their alchemy knowledge. I would like for you to be my gardener. There is one large garden and three smaller gardens, plus all the flower beds, trees, and lawn to be cared for. We need the best quality ingredients available to our alchemists."

The cat-woman smiled with a contented purr, exposing her sharp feline teeth.

Chizrae paused and looked around at everyone in her company. "Did I forget someone?"

Shazi and Mysti both held up their hands. "Surely you have something more for me than standing around and looking official. I'm an enchantress, you know," Shazi reminded her.

"I know. And I want you to be available for me and my guests with that service."

Shazi bowed lightly in agreement. That left Mysti - Aira's twin sister. The pair were identical except for Mysti's slightly lighter shade of hair. Talvalo blinked in surprise, not having noticed Aria's duplicate before. He supposed it was because of so many new faces and him not knowing any of them well, but that could have been a nasty shock if he'd taken an interest in one and mistaken her for the other.

"You are surrounded by magic experts. I suppose you have no place left for me," Mysti commented, a bit disappointed at having to wait until last.

"As a witch sorceress, you will become my new master of magic, ... if you accept, of course. Elgian will be my martial trainer, but I am in need of a trainer in magic as well. I will need you to represent me here while I am away and aid in the house defenses if necessary. Do you accept?"

"I do." She looked to her sister. "It will give us something to tell mother that while we may have chosen a different path, what she taught us was not wasted. Perhaps someday, she can find peace in that." Her twin nodded in solemn agreement.

"I may add more hands to the roster eventually because I also wish to have a maid, a cook, and an alternate boatman. There is also a smith on the grounds named Bren. You can meet him later tonight, along with the inn manager, Narsean. We will all have dinner there, and you may move into your quarters at any time after that."

Murmurs went up among the gathering, and they all seemed pleased with their deals. Chizrae continued leading her comrades to the manor, and broke into a light jog to move ahead of them to show them where the turn on the peninsula was. As she moved ahead of them the longboat came into view, but something else did, as well. A cliff racer swooped from the sky to pick her out from the pack. Everyone in the group readied their swords and magic to her defense.

"Everyone stay back! There's too many of us to rush in there! Let me handle this one!" Bree cried out as she set an arrow in her bow and sighted down the shaft toward the screeching bird as it swooped again to attack Chizrae. Her arrow sailed for the animal and exploded upon impact, releasing noxious venom into the creature's bloodstream. It didn't immediately fall, however. That meant that it was driven insane with some kind of blight disease - the blighted ones were always more driven to attack and harder to kill. And these animals were notorious for preferring to strike from behind.

As the drow dodged and tried to keep the erratic bird from slashing into her back, gro-Nob drew his war ax and ran toward them. But while he was in the midst of his war cry, Chizrae unsheathed Spiderbite, sliced off the creature's tail, and grabbed onto the bleeding stub to jerk its body down within reach. The reptilian bird gave one final cry before the drow sank the enchanted blade deep into its gut. The charging orc stopped in his tracks, open-mouthed and disappointed.

Chizrae snorted and released her hold on the tail stump and kicked the limp body into the muck pond behind it. "Personal bodyguard ...," she muttered as she wiped the blood on her robe, sheathed her daedric weapon, and continued on her way to the longboat. "Where's my boatman?" she cried out to Bodil.

The black-eyed, bosmer snickered at the orc's failure and gave him a slap on the back as he jogged ahead of everyone to join Chizrae at the boat.

Talvalo slid his hands into his pockets and strolled alongside the orc as everyone moved forward again. "Don't you hate it when she does that?"

))((

When the large, flea-like silt strider arrived in Gnisis, Chizrae and Talvalo climbed out of the passenger seats carved into the animal's hard shell, walked down the ramp to the net ladder of the docks, and jumped to the ground below. Gnisis, being a kwama egg-mining town, wasn't exactly the kind of place that was high on protocol for guests. The river could be heard running below the high cliffs on which the town was located and the sun was shining brightly, but the barren trees in the region still made it look like winter, rather than spring.

"Well, this is it, then, ... I guess." Talvalo paused at the food stand. "This is where we part ways."

Chizrae tilted her chin to look up at him. "I still don't understand why you have to leave today. We were so busy getting everyone settled into quarters yesterday, we didn't even get the contracts done. If you stay just one more day, you won't have to come back to do the contracts later."

When Talvalo turned and looked into her eyes, he was surprised to see tears. "Chizrae, ..." He wasn't sure what to say to her now. "Meeting you has been one of the most interesting experiences I can remember in a long time. I want to stay - really I do. But, ... I just can't. You don't understand."

She sniffled lightly and dabbed the tip of her finger under an eyelid to catch some of the moisture. "Then explain so I can understand."

Talvalo raised a hand to her face and brushed away a tear that trickled down her cheek. "I can't. I'm sorry." Gently drawing the hood back from her face, he kissed her forehead.

Chizrae drew back, suspicious of the completely unexpected action. "What was that for?"

"I ... don't want you to be sad that I'm leaving."

The drow jerked her hood back over her head and frowned at him. "I'm crying because the sun's burning my eyes. I'll never be completely adapted to living above ground, you know."

Talvalo's golden cheeks flushed with slight embarrassment at his misunderstanding. "Oh."

The drow snorted and returned to her dispute with his impatience. "It's just one more day."

"I don't have one more day."

"Do you have a date with death tomorrow? What's the difference in one day?"

Talvalo said nothing for a long moment, but then remained firm in his decision to go. "I'll be back to finish the paperwork and start working with the inn next month. For now, I have to go."

Chizrae sighed at his decision, but then reached into her coin purse and withdrew two hundred septims. Taking his hand, she deposited the coins in his palm. "One part of our contract is finished, then. I owe you nothing more for your help in the Molag Amur region. When you come back, we'll draw up the papers for the inn and sign for the divorce, so that contract can be done as well."

He was glad to finally receive his pay - all two hundred of it in spite of the incident at the inn in Caldera - and tucked it into his own coin purse. "Good luck getting your book translated."

"Good luck with your ... adventures ... then," she returned, still not understanding his rush to leave in spite of unfinished business and the inn needing his attention.

Talvalo watched her walk away, heading up the hill behind the temple, before he turned and headed in the opposite direction.

))((

Chizrae approached the old Velothi tower and read the sign engraved above the door - Arvs-Drelen. This was it. After knocking on the door, she looked over her shoulder and saw Talvalo entering the trade house on the other side of town. Then, after a time when no one answered, she turned back to the door and tried the latch. It was open, so she stepped inside. "Hello? Anyone here?" She closed the door behind her and headed down the barren, dingy hall. "Hello?"

Someone was there. A skeleton warrior stepped from behind a hall door and headed straight for her.

"Great. I hate Telvanni wizards," she muttered as she set down her backpack to hurriedly untie her shield from where she had attached it. Not quick enough at grabbing her defenses, Chizrae raised her arm to guard her head and felt the burn of cold steel slice into her flesh before she could thrust her shield between them and push the skeleton back. Crouching low, she then swept her shield back against its arm to prevent it from returning to a striking position. Drawing Spiderbite, she raked the weapon under its rib cage to sever the magically held-together spine. The skeleton made a horrible hissing sound, recognizing its second death, and dropped at her feet in two halves. The necromantic magic dissipated. The bones fell apart.

Unhappy that her welcoming party had tried to kill her, and even more upset that her favorite shirt was now cut and stained with blood, Chizrae returned to her backpack and jerked her light armor out, donning partial protection. Pulling the bag back onto her shoulder, but keeping her shield and sword readied, she proceeded to approach the intersections in the hall with caution. There was another skeleton at the bottom of the stairs below to her right, so she stayed in the shadows and turned left. Following the bend of the hallway, she eventually came to a door that she suspected lead to the tower. Most wizards preferred to live in high locations, rather than low. Testing the door, however, she found it locked. "I really hate Telvanni wizards," she groused again, as she sheathed her sword and set to work with her lock picks.

When she was rewarded with a small click in the spring of the lock, she pushed open the door and ascended the stairs. At the top of the stairs was an open summoning room, and in the summoning was a pacing daedroth. The crocodile-headed demon growled at her appearance and immediately sent a bolt of lightning toward her.

"_Iblith_!" Chizrae cursed and ducked behind her shield. She managed to block the bolt, but could feel it electrify the special alloy enough that it gave her arm a strong buzz. Quickly trading her lock picks for her sword, she ran toward the daedroth and struck its scaly chest. It froze for a moment under the paralysis spell from the enchanted blade, and fire spells burned away some of its natural armor, but it wasn't enough. In an instant, the magical binding wore off, and it nearly tore her shield away from her. One clawed hand caught her face as she concentrated more on trying to block the incredibly strong hits aimed at her torso. She could feel the poison from its claws burning through the open wounds, but like most drow she had developed a strong resistance to such substances. When the opportunity opened for her to switch to offensive, she quickly opened a few well-placed cuts to some vital areas and waited for the blood loss to weaken her victim before delivering the final blow to through the heart. Looking toward the stairs, she paused to catch her breath and readied her blade for whatever would come next.

Gritting her teeth and stepping over the dead daedroth, the drow marched up the stairs to find a steam centurion puffing and rolling around in a corner of the wizard's private chambers. She started to attack, when a movement on the other side of the room caught her attention.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. It took me an entire year to put that back together from what scraps I could find in dwemer ruins."

Chizrae resisted the instinct to turn and attack the speaker, but she kept her sword pointed toward the mechanical centurion. "Baladas Demnevanni?" she cautiously asked.

"And you are?" The dunmer necromancer stood and approached her. His ash blue face was sunken in shadows, so what stood out most was his cold, red-eyed stare.

"Chizrae Velve'Xukuth."

"I did not invite you to my tower, thief."

"I'm not a thief. I came to talk to you about a book, but you didn't answer your door."

"A locked door unanswered means I don't want to talk."

"I was referred to you by Hasphat Antabolis of the Balmora Fighters Guild."

"Then I suggest you put away the sword and spit out whatever it is you have to say before I become even more offended at your presence."

Her eyes remained cautiously on the centurion.

"It won't attack you. Its command settings are inoperative at the moment."

Chizrae slowly lowered her blade and sheathed it. Then, still wary of the machine, she pulled the old, red book from her back pack. Passing it to him, she watched his expression shift slightly to one of cloaked interest.

Baladas carefully thumbed through the tome. "He was right to send you to me. This is priceless. It is the translation key we have been looking for. If you find any other dwemer books and bring them to me, I can use this book to translate them for you."

"But it says nothing about the disappearance of the dwarves?"

"No. The Aldmeris script indicates that it is a tutorial for the dwemer language. There is nothing of use here, except to someone like me."

Chizrae grasped the book and pulled it back to herself. "Then I shall bring it with me if I find something worth translating." She pushed it back into her pack, knowing that the wizard was unhappy with being unable to keep it himself. When she was fully packed again, she straightened and headed back toward the stairs. "Thanks for the hospitality, but next time I'd appreciate it if you answered the door _yourself,_ instead of allowing your servants show me the way to your chambers," she added, matching his cold tone before descending into the summoning room once more. Pausing over the dead daedroth, and glancing back over her shoulder to make sure the wizard wasn't looking, she crouched and drew her dagger to cut out the demon's heart. Wrapping it in the loincloth that it wore, she deposited the messy thing in the bottom of her pack, stood, and left the tower. Outside of Arvs-Drelen once more, Chizrae put a hand over the cut on her arm to heal it with her own magic. Then, she lifted her eyes to the trade house and followed that path.

Inside the trade house, she went straight to the bar and purchased a bottle of comberry juice to quench her thirst. Thanking the serving girl, she took a sip of her drink and looked around the room in curiosity. Talvalo was still here, and he was seated with another male altmer who bore a striking resemblance to him. The drowess took another sip of her bottled drink and walked casually toward their table. "So, is this your brother?"

Talvalo was surprised to see her again - and with long claw marks on her face, at that. "What ... happened to you?"

"Hasphat was right. Baladas Demnevanni doesn't like company." She took another drink of her juice and looked to the other altmer. He had Talvalo's pale green eyes, but he sported pale blond hair, instead of red. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" she hinted, giving Talvalo's shoulder a nudge.

Talvalo clearly didn't want to, but he sighed and gestured to the altmer beside him, as if pacifying the dark elf would make her go away. "This is my older brother, Aridis. He's a wizard from Cyrodiil. Aridis, this is Chizrae. She's one of my -"

"- wife." Chizrae smiled and extended a jet-black hand to the noble elf. "I'm his wife."

Talvalo frowned at her as Aradis blinked in shock. He obviously hadn't planned on introducing her like that at all.

"Wife?" Aridis made himself politely shake the unusual woman's bloody hand, but then quickly wiped his own hand on a napkin. "Talvalo, you didn't tell anyone you got married." He looked to his younger brother wanting an explanation.

"I didn't. I mean, I did, but only because ..." He looked to Chizrae, who was smiling innocently. "You have a mean streak about you, you know that? This is exactly what you did at Eight Plates when I asked that serving girl to dance."

"Serving girl?" Aradis asked, confused at how that sounded.

"You enjoy shocking people to death, don't you?" Talvalo unhappily complained to his 'wife'.

"Yes." The drow finished her juice and invited herself to sit next to him at their table.

"Then, ... you're not really married?" Aridis asked.

Talvalo sighed and rubbed his forehead, dreading having to explain it. "Well, yes, actually, we are."

Chizrae smiled in confirmation and then leaned across the table. "So, Aridis, ... tell me what kind of person your brother was before he left Cyrodiil."

"No!" Talvalo loudly interrupted and leaned forward between them. "Look, my brother and I have business that doesn't involve you, okay?"

"But I'm your wife." She gave him an indignant expression and faced Aridis. "He's quite the business person, isn't he? A good head for money and all that."

"Are we still talking about Talvalo?" Aradis quipped.

"Oh yes. Why, just a few days ago he purchased a beautiful private island for us. He operates an inn on it, and he's already hired a bunch of servants. He's quite amazing, but what's he _really_ like?"

Aridis glanced at his younger brother with surprise and chuckled. "That would take some time to explain, I'm afraid. You might be as surprised to learn about some things from his past as I am to learn about his plans for the future."

Chizrae leaned forward. "Would you like to come home with us? We have a much more comfortable place for you to stay than anything Gnisis has to offer. And it would be such an honor to have you stay with us, so we can get to know each other a little better."

Talvalo buried his face in his hands with a groan.

Chizrae gave his elbow a nudge. "Wouldn't that be nice? To have your brother over for a few days?"

"Lovely." He lowered his hands to the table, but gave her disgruntled expression.

She gave him a sly smile, kissed his cheek, and stood. "We can take the silt strider and enjoy the scenery while we talk along the way."

"Well, thank you, ... if you're sure it wouldn't be imposing. I had planned to stay in Vvardenfell for only a week, but I can extend in order to see this private island and spend some time with both of you. If you'll excuse me, I must go pack my things." Aridis left the table and headed down the stairs to the rental rooms.

Talvalo stood and picked up his travel bag, but drew a calming breath before speaking to her. "_Why_ in the names of _all_ the gods did you _do that?_"

"You'd rather have your brother stay in this egg-mining dump?"

"Yes!" he hissed.

Chizrae squarely faced him, all fake smiles gone, ready to negotiate. "Why?"

"Because he's going to find out that everything you just said is a lie."

"Not a lie - just a different shade of the truth."

"If he thinks I have that kind of money, he's going to demand that I pay him back now."

Chizrae decided it was time to pin him with the one oddity that Jiub had discovered about him. "If you owe him so much money, why did you voluntarily turn down your inheritance? Why couldn't you just pay him back with that?"

Talvalo paused, uneasy and speechless for a moment before he found his voice again. "I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"I just couldn't. I ... didn't deserve it. I have to work this out on my own."

"Don't give me that." She poked a finger into his chest. "You are a lazy-ass slackard."

He angered at her blunt insult. "I _was_ a lazy-ass slackard. I'm trying to correct that now. And it's not going to help to invite him along for the ride. He's going to want his money back now, and I don't have it yet."

She withdrew her accusing finger, but planted her hands on her hips with the same attitude. "You could pay him back with your inheritance and write an I.O.U. to yourself."

"No." He shook his head as if it were out of the question.

Chizrae's eyes narrowed on him in suspicion. "Nobody that deep in debt would turn down a chance to pay it off with free money. There's another reason you won't take that money. _What_ are you hiding?"

Talvalo frowned. "It's none of your business."

"It is now. If you're going to be operating an inn on my property, I want to know everything there is to know about you. If I can't find it out from you, then I'll find it out from him."

"You won't get the answers you're looking for from him. You'll only complicate things!" He took hold of her arms. "Chizrae, please. Don't do this. I can't go back to Seyda Neen right now. I need to be on the road, heading east."

"It's already done. Meet you at the silt strider." She pulled away and left for the door without looking back.

))((

Talvalo sighed to himself at his bad luck, glanced toward the lower level rental rooms, and then followed her out of the building. He watched the drow head to the market and waited until she was completely preoccupied with purchasing some new clothing, but then turned and headed toward Fort Darius. But as he headed toward the town gate to escape for the open road, he noticed something shimmering in the scrub bushes.

Sidetracking in curiosity, he crouched and pushed back the leaves. It was a book with "Gnisis" engraved in gold-embossed tooling on the pale-blue leather of the front cover and binding. The entire thing glowed with a magical enchantment. He reached to grab it, but as soon as he made contact, a gust of wind and a clap of thunder blasted into his face. A whirlpool of teleportation magic opened beneath the book, and his hand received an electrical shock as the book was carried away.

When the breathtaking sensation passed, Talvalo pressed his hands on the ground where the book used to be, but no trace of it was left. Had it gone home on its own, or had it jumped to somewhere else? There was only one way to find out, and, unfortunately, his curiosity outweighed his common sense once again. Standing, he looked to the open road outside of Gnisis, but then turned and walked back to the trade house just as his brother was coming out.

"Ah, there you are, Talvalo. I didn't see you inside, so I thought you had changed your mind and left me."

Talvalo smiled in guilt-ridden response, but said nothing as he escorted his brother to the silt strider, where they would wait for Chizrae to finish her shopping, before heading home.


	7. Chapter 7: Something Interesting

Chapter 7: Something Interesting

On the ride from Gnisis back to Seyda Neen, Aridis had a pleasant time chatting with Chizrae. At her request, he told her of their family home in Cyrodiil, their sister and her family, and the high standards of education that all three siblings endured while growing up. He was surprised to find her so attentive to his family-centric discussions, but what she wanted to hear about most, of course, was Talvalo.

Aridis reached back into his childhood memories with a fond chuckle. "Well, ... as a child, he was perhaps more Golden Labrador than Golden Altmer." Aridis gave his younger brother a somewhat aloof smirk. "He had lots of friends and was quite loyal to them. I suppose among the three of us, Talvalo was the most quiet - a bit of a dreamer. He's always had a great love for books, just not the kind that are very practical. In fact, he's never been the practical sort, but at least he's always had an easy-going personality."

Talvalo's eyes noticeably shifted back to the wilderness in attempt to ignore the whole conversation.

"Things that would send the rest of us into a tailspin usually rolled right off of his back. 'No worries' was his motto - which was all fine and dandy as a child, but has its problems for adolescents and adults. He frequently slept in and was late for his lessons. He often suffered injuries in his martial arts training because he skipped practices, which led to making excuses not to go back. He became bored with his magic studies, so he didn't advance at the rate that he should have. If he was given chores, he'd either forget to do them or somehow manage to manipulate his way out of them. And later his drinking often left him flat on his back on the floor somewhere, so that his friends had to bring him home."

"Do we have to listen to this all the way back to Seyda Neen?" Talvalo complained, watching the twisted and stripped trees on the barren, red-rock hills of the West Gash countryside.

Chizrae turned her chin toward him in a rather scolding manner. "Well, if you could tell me something interesting about yourself, then perhaps your brother wouldn't have to."

Talvalo was thoughtful for a moment before offering something to the conversation. "A small lizard went up my short pants once when I was about five."

Though Aridis and the otherwise silent silt strider driver both laughed at this confession, the drowess blinked back at him without so much as cracking a smile. It was clearly not the kind of dirt she wanted to dig up on him.

Talvalo explained anyway. "It was at our uncle's funeral, but I guess you had to be there to get the full effect of a small boy jumping up in his chair to shake a lizard from his shorts." He mildly shrugged. "Most people would find that interesting - even humorous. You just happen to have no sense of humor."

Chizrae's annoyance at his pointless offering turned into an offended scowl.

Aridis chuckled and brushed a wisp of white hair from his eyes. "Outstanding show stopper, Talvalo. Took Mother weeks to explain that one to family and friends because everyone thought you were mooning the high priest."

The red-haired elf ignored his brother's comment and continued speaking to his wife. "Here's an idea. The next time we decide to trade these fun little family facts, let's go meet _your _brother and ask what he has to say about you."

Chizrae snorted. "Don't even joke about hunting down Daerazal and having a nostalgic chat with him. You have no idea what you're proposing." She turned back to Aridis. "So, when did Talvalo become more practical-minded and serious about his money?"

Aridis chuckled again. "I should be asking that of you. While he lived at home, his spending was completely out of control - tavern tabs, gambling losses, ... But if he's bought a private estate and owns an inn, it sounds like you've turned him into a reformed man. It must be love this time, right?"

A slow, sly smile played across the drow's lips. "Must be. When we first met, he picked me out of a crowd of dozens of other ladies and offered to escort me home. He helped me to safely cross the Molag Amur region, and when we were attacked by a nix-hound, he ripped it open with his bare hands for me."

"Bare hands?" Aridis's brows rose in doubtful surprise.

Talvalo sighed in disgust at the drow's twisted truth and turned his attention back to the wilderness of the West Gash region.

"He even went with me into some dwemer ruins to retrieve an excavation report for the Mages Guild and fought a steam centurion for me," she continued. "If that's not love, I don't know what is."

Aradis didn't know whether to be amused or amazed. "Well, he's always liked reading about that kind of thing, but he's never had the stones to actually fight anything."

"Excuse me?" the battlemage answered his brother's tone. "My stones have seen more action in the past month than yours have in your entire life. At least I leave the safety of my books to live a little now and then."

"Oh come now, Talvalo. I'm speaking of heroic battles against evil beasties in filthy dungeons, not silver-tongued promises against loan thugs in filthy taverns. You used to not even be able to unsheathe your sword in one swoop."

"Oh, but he's a magnificent battlemage now," Chizrae insisted to the elder brother. "Of course, he did hit his head numerous times on the dwarven doorways …"

"Twice - I only bumped my head twice," Talvalo corrected with irritation. "And that's because walking through their filthy little halls was more like squeezing through a rusty pipe."

"And he did enter a Sixth House Sanctum to fight an ash zombie," Chizrae added to Aridis. "Of course, the ash zombie did knock him out cold before he even knew he was there …"

"Ash zombie!" Aridis was shocked to hear how much his brother's sense of adventure had developed beyond folklore and fiction.

"He caught me with a paralysis spell from behind. You even admitted you never saw him coming." Talvalo argued in his own defense.

"Cracked his skull right open in only two hits. But other than that, I thought he handled himself quite well." Chizrae smiled with pride.

"Good heavens, Tal. I guess, for once, it's worked in your favor to have a thick skull." Aridis was relieved that his little brother had survived, but was greatly amused at the manner in which the drow was relating the awkward moments of the encounters. Yes, this was going to be a fun visit with his little brother and his surprise sister-in-law.

))((

Talvalo sighed in disgust and turned his back to them again. He spent the remainder of the journey in unusual silence as the pair of them unfolded his personal history in agonizing detail. He mentally prayed to any god that would listen for one or both of them to suddenly be struck by lightning, but he had no such luck.

Toward evening, however, as darkness settled in, Chizrae became sleepy from the constant swaying of the silt strider's pace as it carried them down the road toward Seyda Neen, and Talvalo finally got his wish for silence when she fell asleep against Aridis's shoulder.

"I guess I finally became boring," Aridis whispered to his brother with a humored smile.

"More likely whatever she fought in that Telvanni tower zapped her strength. Otherwise, I'm sure she'd be eagerly awaiting more of your twaddle about me."

"It's not twaddle; it's truth. You can't blame your wife for wanting to know about your past, especially since it seems you haven't told her anything of it yourself."

"We've only been married a few days," Talvalo blandly excused his neglect.

"I see." Aridis nodded as if that made more sense than anything else Chizrae had said. "Impromptu, I assume? But why didn't you tell anyone? When Mother finds out she wasn't invited to the wedding, she'll positively flip."

Talvalo shook his head and lowered his voice to avoid waking her as they spoke. "Mother doesn't need to know about Chizrae."

Aridis lowered his voice as well. "Because she's dunmer? She seems like a charming young woman, once you get to know her."

"_Charming?_" Talvalo heard himself echoing Jiub's sentiments when they first broke the news of the marriage to him. But he couldn't admit anything to the contrary to his brother. "She's something, alright."

"I know Mother would prefer to see you with a nice altmer noblewoman, but I'm sure she would try to accept her." Aridis shrugged lightly. "Eventually ..." He looked to his younger brother, who wore a flat expression of doubt. "She was trying to accept Sarinowyn before you broke things off with her. Mother probably even would have tried to convince you to return to her, if it hadn't been for Father's death so soon after your return from Solstheim. Well, that and your little scandal." He paused to give his brother a slightly disapproving reminder of the consequences of his actions. "She's been very worried about you since then. We all have. We know it must have been tough for you to deal with both losses in such a short time, but to be so proud as to refuse your birthright when you have loan thugs breathing down your neck was downright foolish. To be arrested among slave traders was unthinkable. And to then drop everything and run off to Vvardenfell with no explanation, ... it's all led to some very unfavorable rumors, you know. Some people think you left for Morrowind because you're somehow involved in illegal slave trade. Others are saying you came here to escape the loan thugs in Imperial City. On the contrary, I've find out you're married and doing quite well for yourself. Yet you don't want me to tell anyone? Is it because you're afraid the loan thugs will come after you here in Vvardenfell? Because if that's the case, honestly, your wife and home should be worth a little more than your pride. Take your rightful inheritance, and give them their money."

"I have to do this on my own," Talvalo stubbornly, but quietly, insisted. "But I _don't_ want anyone to know about it until I can make it work. This set up with Chizrae might not last, okay? You know me - I can never make anything last."

"Then, why in the world did you marry the girl?"

"She asked me to."

"She beat you to it? That's a first." Aridis sighed and shook his head at his younger brother. "I will never understand you, Talvalo. Marriage is a sacred bond, not something to be toyed with. I thought you had learned that lesson with Sarinowyn."

Talvalo's brows drew together. "This has nothing to do with Sarinowyn."

"No? Then, how did you come into that kind of money? It sounds like another dowry heist, if you ask me."

Talvalo cut his brother a sharp glance. "I am -not- in this to steal Chizrae's money. Don't pick her pockets for my debts, okay? I gave you what I could this time. I have to take the rest to Vos, or they're going to sell my horses. When the inn turns a profit, I promise I will continue to pay you back the rest of what I owe you."

"Pie crust promises." Aridis faced forward. "However, perhaps with marriage and property taxes, a small measure of responsibility will grow on you. I want to believe in you, Talvalo." He met his younger brother's gaze. "I've always seen potential in you, if you'd just apply yourself toward something worthwhile. Perhaps this is the incentive you need to finally find some stability, hm?" He glanced down at the drow leaning against his shoulder. "Speaking of which, ... I believe this belongs to you." He smiled and gently shifted his position, guiding Chizrae's head and shoulders toward Talvalo, instead.

Talvalo almost wanted to tell his brother the truth about his relationship with Chizrae. He almost wanted to tell him that he had not changed - that it was all a lie, that he had married her only for the money, that the marriage was one scam meant to cover up another. Why had he not escaped both of them in Gnisis when he had the chance? He was stupid to return to Seyda Neen under current circumstances. And yet, as he accepted Chizrae's head on his own shoulder, he saw the genuine hope in his brother's eyes.

"I know, if he were still with us, Father would be happy for you in your new life," Aridis added. "I'm sure Mother would be more at ease, too, ... if she knew."

As the silt strider moved its long, spidery legs steadily down the road, Talvalo looked up at the sky. The stars were out, and the moon was bright. It was a beautiful, clear night. He looked down at the drow sleeping against his chest. She was a beautiful woman. But the poet within could not seem to find beautiful words for either of them at this moment. Sighing heavily, he turned his attention back to the black and gray shades of the desolate land.

))((

Unseen by either brother, Chizrae opened her heat-seeking eyes for a moment, to see the shades of red, orange, and white beneath Talvalo's cloak - too much white near the center of his chest, and a rapid heartbeat. He was anxious about something. Satisfied, she closed her eyes again and continued to pretend she was asleep.

))((

When they finally arrived back at the manor, Chizrae and Talvalo showed Aridis to the guest room. While Talvalo collected his journal and other belongings, Chzirae headed back downstairs to find Mysti and catch up on any news in her absence. Talvalo started to set his packed bag down in the master bedroom, but after a long moment, he hefted it to his shoulder again and headed to the library instead. As he paused on the landing before entering, he noticed Jiub was in the storage room, digging around in some crates that had not been there before. Then, he opened the library door and peered inside. On the shelf in the small alcove at the back, the Realmsfade book for Gnisis had come home.

"Looking for someone?"

Talvalo turned to find Jiub standing behind him, hands stuffed in his pockets. "Just curious to see if it was here." The altmer pointed to his discovery at the back of the library.

The dunmer peered into the room. "A book?"

"Not just any book - a teleportation book to Gnisis. And there's more for other cities scattered around Morrowind. They apparently teleport back home if they're found."

"Hm." Jiub appreciatively recognized the value of such a discovery. "Great for going out, but what about coming back in?"

"The house keys teleport into the anteroom from anywhere. If I can find them all and bring them back, it would make traveling a little easier for her. I'm sure she'd like that."

The dunmer's dark red eyes shifted toward the altmer. "I'm sure she would."

Talvalo turned to face him. "You still don't like me, do you."

"No."

"Well, you're in luck because I'll be leaving soon enough."

"You just got back."

"A mercenary's work is never done." Talvalo entered the library and walked between the rows of empty shelves once more to stand before the glowing book. He started to reach a hand for it, but stopped short. Setting his bag down, he dug out his journal and sat down cross-legged on the floor to write some quick notes.

))((

Jiub shook his head at the altmer's strange behavior and continued up the stairs, through the living and dining areas into the kitchen, where he found Chizrae and Mysti chatting over a plate of fresh cookies.

Chizrae smiled and offered him one. "Mysti has been telling me how everyone has spent their first week moving from their old homes into their new ones. She said you brought my stuff, too."

He accepted the cookie. "I rounded up some of the guys and rented a few pack guars to bring everything from Vivec. It's not like we had much, so it's all down in the storage room on the lower level for whenever you're ready to start unpacking. I've already separated my stuff and took it to the guest house where I'll be rooming with Bodil."

"Too bad I can't offer you a pay raise instead of a cookie," she quipped with a pleased grin. "Did you bring the cog?"

"What cog?"

"The cog that Talvalo dropped through the dock into the river."

Jiub's nose scrunched. "You've got to be kidding. We had enough baggage to sink a dragon's belly in the mud, as it was. Since it was a choice between the two-ton hammer and the two-ton piece of junk, I thought you'd rather keep the hammer."

"I assume you remembered not to touch the two-ton hammer, or I don't supposed we'd be having this conversation. Sunder and Keening can't be handled without Wraithguard."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he waved off the infamous and deadly weapons that only the Nerevarine could handle. "I wrapped them in blankets before moving them."

Chizrae finished her drink and set her cup on the table to pick up the last cookie. "By the way, Talvalo's brother will be staying with us for a few days. His name is Aridis. You can do a security check on him if you want, but I don't think he's the type to pull any surprises on us." Chizrae walked to the door and pushed it open.

"If Talvalo's leaving, why is his brother staying?"

The drow paused and looked back over her shoulder. "Talvalo's leaving?"

The dunmer took small pleasure in the fact that apparently Talvalo had not informed her of his plans. "Had his bag packed and was heading toward the teleporting book. Want me to help you pat him down before he gets away? I'm more than happy to help you loosen his tongue about whatever he's trying to escape with."

Chizrae scowled at him, which meant she wanted to handle it alone, but Jiub smiled to himself and popped his cookie into his mouth as she turned and rushed toward the library.

))((

Hoping she wasn't too late, the drow ran down the stairs to the library. There, she found the gold elf sitting on the floor beneath the empty shelves of the alcove where a single book glowed with a shimmer of magic - not exactly the grand escape that Jiub painted it to be. "You actually found one," she spoke with mild disbelief as she closed the distance between them, until she was close enough to read the label on the book's binding. She started to reach for it.

"Careful. One touch will probably send you straight back to Gnisis, and you'll have to make that long trip home all over again."

"I have my house key. I can easily teleport back."

He put away his quill and closed his journal before looking up and meeting her gaze. "Considering what happened to the previous owner, I suggest you keep that key on you at all times, ... like on a chain around your neck, or something."

Returning to suspicion, Chizrae noted the travel bag and sat down next to him. "Going somewhere?"

"Gnisis."

"Your brother is here now."

"Nevertheless, my business lies elsewhere."

"You can't just walk out on your brother."

"He's used to it by now."

"He -"

"Chizrae, we've already discussed this. I have to leave. I was counting on meeting him in Gnisis and then making my way to Vos. I didn't count on either of us coming back here. Thanks to you, I now have less time than before to make it all the way across the province before they start auctioning my horses. I'll be gone for about a month, but I will eventually come back to sign the papers for the inn and the divorce. I promise. I have just one favor to ask of you."

She quirked a brow and took a guess at what he was going to ask. "You want to borrow money from me to pay your brother back?"

He shook his head in firm denial. "No. You can tell Aridis anything you want about why I had to go. I'm out of excuses. Let him stay, or kick him out. I don't care. Just ... please don't tell him this is all a farce. He was happy to see what you saw in me, ... or at least, ... how you made it seem to be."

She ignored his request. "Traveling to Vos shouldn't take a whole month. If you're trying to get away with any of my -"

"I'm not trying to get away with anything. Check my bag if you like. You have all the paperwork, and every coin and artifact will be accounted for. I'm going to look for your Realmsfade books while I'm gone."

Chizrae grabbed his bag, opened it, and pilfered through the clothing and miscellaneous toiletries for a moment. She found nothing belonging to her, but considered the conversation she overheard in the silt strider. Closing the bag, she folded her arms at her chest, prepared to challenge him. "Why are you so interested in the books? Are you planning on taking them, or using them to escape the loan thugs in Imperial City?"

Talvalo frowned at her bringing up his debts again. "I want them because _both_ of us could use them to travel Vvardenfell quickly when necessary - like now."

"Yes, teleportation would be helpful when one has to escape loan thugs and slavers quickly." The altmer caught her use of the term exactly the way she thought he would - mute caution. She delighted in his frozen, but obviously provoked expression. "I wasn't supposed to hear that part of the conversation, was I? But seeing as how neither you nor your brother were clear on those whispered details, maybe I have that backwards. Teleporting devices would be just as helpful for smuggling slaves between towns and quickly escaping Imperial guards, wouldn't they?"

Talvalo's mood darkened at what she was implying. "I've never had anything to do with selling slaves. I bought a piece of equipment from a slaver once, and that's the end of it. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when the guards raided their cavern. Nothing travels faster than bad news and rumors."

"If you don't sell slaves, what did you need slavery equipment for?"

"I wasn't buying manacles or torture equipment. I just needed a big cage."

"For what - horses?" she doubted. "I hope it was sturdy enough to contain the beasts."

"Sturdy enough to contain even you," he acridly returned and put away his journal.

The drow's eyes narrowed on him. "Why are you _really_ leaving, Talvalo?"

"It doesn't involve you, so you don't need to know." He firmly denied her, stood, and hefted his travel bag to his shoulder.

Jiub's warnings came back to her, and she became angry. "You're legally bonded to me now. Whatever you're involved in - legally or illegally - I have a right to know."

"I don't want it to involve you. That's why I'm leaving."

Chizrae stood and continued to defiantly challenge him. "Leaving me like Sarinowyn? Is she even still alive? Or did something happen to her because of you and whatever you're running from?"

"I'm not wasting any more time to argue with you. I have to go." Talvalo angrily pushed her aside and strode toward the Realmsfade Gnisis book.

In a blur of motion, Chizrae slammed him back against the tapestry map on the wall - Spiderbite's deadly blade inches away from his throat. The drow kept her menacing voice under cool control in spite of her sudden attack. "Your name is on my property deed. My money is legally yours until those divorce papers are signed. I am _not_ letting you walk out of here alive without signing them.

Talvalo's eyes were glued to her wrist and the blade that extended underneath his chin. He had seen what the drow was capable of doing with that marvelous weapon. She would kill him if it meant saving herself. Of that he was certain. But the gold elf's voice and demeanor remained calm as they took on an uncharacteristically sinister tone. "If you keep me here against my wishes, you won't live to regret it. For your own sake, … let me go."

"_My_ sake? In case you haven't noticed, it is my blade against _your_ throat. You may be bigger and stronger, but I am faster and closer. One wrong breath could be your last."

"Then kill me now or let me go. Just don't keep me here against my wishes." Talvalo's anger subsided into sincerity. "Chizrae, ... please …"

There it was again - that death wish that seemed so unnatural coming from the lips of a gold elf. It didn't move her, but it did unnerve her. She could kill him now and be done with all his nonsense. It might even land her, his wife, the hefty inheritance that he had refused. But then he would take his stubborn secret with him to the grave, and she wasn't sure that was a good idea without knowing what it was first. Snarling in indecision, the drow glanced to the open door and realized that anyone passing by could witness what might happen next. She certainly didn't want that, but she didn't want to risk letting him go, lest he escape through that teleporting book before she got some answers. Lowering the weapon, she pulled him away from the wall and touched the enchanted blade to his back to remind him it was still close enough to draw first blood. "Close the door and lock it. If you attempt to escape through that Gnisis book before I'm done talking to you, I _will_ come after you."

))((

The altmer sighed heavily, dropped his bag, and walked to the door with her in tow. Why did she persist? She had no idea what she was prying into. But as he considered the drow's sordid past, he began to wonder how she would react if he really did laid all his cards on the table. It was a high risk play. The odds were stacked against him. Then again, he had always did love to gamble. He closed the door and locked it as he was told. "Everything my brother said about me is true. I have absolutely no self-discipline when it comes to things I enjoy. I've always known I'd eventually have to face the consequences of bad decisions, but ... never thought it would be like this." In spite of the deadly blade that twitched in her raven-black hand, he turned to face her. Though she said nothing, the dark elf looked expectant and waited to hear more, rather than threatening him to keep his back to her.

Talvalo drew a breath and began his dark tale. "I suppose it all started when my financial problems at home grew out of hand, and I realized that girlfriends were better for free money than ordinary friends, especially when I sweetened them up with compliments. I eventually even asked a few of those girlfriends to marry me because I've always preferred women with big -"

"Just get to the point," she impatiently interrupted.

Talvalo frowned and emphatically finished his cut-off statement. "Dowries."

Chizrae had mistaken his hand gestures to mean something more ... anatomical. She coolly shrugged it off as if she had not.

"Not that I have anything against big breasts," he mildly added.

"Of course not," she flatly returned, knowing he was mocking her now. "Get on with it." She nudged the enchanted blade toward his stomach.

"When their families found out about my spending tabs - and my ... other girlfriends - things usually fell apart."

"Usually?"

"But I didn't let it get me down. I had always wanted to travel and see the world, so I decided to cast my net a little further out to sea. It was time to go someplace where I didn't have that kind of reputation. So, I went to Solstheim."

"Hmph. Nothing there but lots of snow."

He held up a finger in protest at her dismissal of his brilliant plan. "Lots of snow and women who might welcome someone new to keep them warm."

She could guess where this was headed. "Women with big dowries …"

"And big breasts - Nord humans are very well-endowed." He smiled lightly, as if trying hard to find humor in this somehow painful story. "They're also very starved for attention in those isolated little villages. I would assume an alias, court them, borrow a little money, and then disappear with it."

Chizrae shook her head as if she were a scolding mother. "So, the elf prince turns out to be a full-fledged con-artist."

"Well, ... pirate, ... to be more precise. The ship that I boarded to sail to Solstheim was attacked by pirates about half-way there. Rather than fight them and be drowned at sea like most of the other passengers, I asked to join them. The Empire has set up a fort there, and they're trying to establish an ebony mining town in the southwestern area of the land. Regular shipments of supplies sail in and out rather frequently, and when a ship gets trapped in an ice floe, its helpless to escape or defend itself."

"Attacking Imperial ships?" One white brow lifted as the drow speculated what that meant. "You really were a pirate. Such an act is guilty of treason. I could report you today and you'd be hanged by tomorrow."

He frowned at her for reminding him of that. "But that's where I truly learned how to handle a sword, ... and magic. I learned how to fireball a ship better than any cannon. I crafted some very useful spells that would allow me to swim into the wreckage and unlock all cargo chests. I could control the elements for smooth sailing, or strike another ship's mizzenmast with lightning." He smiled with pride and shame at the same time. "But my family doesn't know what I did in Solstheim, and I don't want them to find out," he added. "That's why Aridis couldn't comprehend - "

"Who is Sarinowyn?" Chizrae pressed the sword slightly deeper, again impatient.

Talvalo could feel the warm magic of the daedric sword through his shirt. One thrust was all it would take for that wicked blade to end his life. Or, having confessed to treason before a sworn member of the Imperial Blades, he was as good as dead in an Imperial dungeon, if she chose to make him suffer longer. However, he had already made up his mind to turn over all his cards before her. "She's the daughter of a wealthy Nord who lives in an Imperial keep on on island near Solstheim. For once, ... I didn't want to take the money and run. I was willing to give up the sea to stay with her. I told everyone at home about our engagement, and I used to take her to Cyrodiil to visit my family and see Imperial City. My proposal to her and my feelings were genuine this time." Talvalo folded his arms at his chest and moved, without fear of the sword pointed at him, to sit on the edge of the small reading table to the side of the door. "One night she and her friend came with me and some of my friends to a small pirate town tucked away on an island just off the mainland. She didn't like the atmosphere as much as her friend did, so she went to bed early. Her friend stayed with me, though." He reached a finger to the side of his nose and gave it a light scratch. "Stayed with me all night," he clarified with a somewhat chagrined expression.

"I was ... very drunk and … very stupid ... Anyway, to make a long story short, Sarinowyn found out. She was furious at both of us. She wouldn't speak to us or even listen to our apologies. Instead, after we all went home, she sent us each a bottle of wine with scathing little notes attached saying that she wished us a happy life together because we deserved one another. She didn't say it that nicely, of course, but you get the idea."

"I get the idea, but I don't see what this has to do with why you live your life on the run. Did she find out you were a pirate? Did her father set a bounty hunter on you?"

"No. It was the wine." He paused a moment, as if changing his mind about his final card, but there was no retracting the play now. "The wine that Sarinowyn gave us was cursed. She mixed the wine with the blood of a snow wolf - one that had been infected with _Sanies Lupinus_." He waited to see if the name of the disease struck any recognition with her. He didn't want to have to say it plainly.

She didn't know the term, but the cursed blood of an infected wolf could only mean one thing. Chizrae could finally see where this long and winding tale was leading now. "Werewolf."

Talvalo was silent for a long moment, as if there was still some chance left he could take it back, but at last he gave in with a small nod. "At first, I didn't understand what had happened to me. I blacked out for days at a time, and then woke unable to remember who I was. There was ... a lot of blood ... " He looked down at his strong, slender hands, more suited to arts and magic than ripping apart prey. "To this day I don't know whether it was animal ... or human. Then, about a week after the full moon had passed, Sarinowyn sent a letter explaining the nature of the wine and informed us that there is no cure if the disease isn't caught before the transformation takes place. She timed her revenge ... perfectly."

The drow straightened a little, gradually lowered her sword, and finally sheathed it.

He waited for her to react with shock, fear, or more threats, but she wasn't even angry any more. "I was cursed for a lifetime because of one night that I can't even remember."

"That doesn't excuse what you did."

"It doesn't justify what she did to seek revenge. It was one mistake."

"Sometimes all it takes is one mistake to screw up the rest of your life - or someone else's. Life can be very unforgiving like that."

Talvalo was silent for a moment, remembering her similar unforgiving response when they had talked about the previous owner of the estate. "Since the Mages Guild does some rather sophisticated research on diseases and restorative magic, I hoped that someone in Imperial City might know of a way to cure me. I went home, but I couldn't bring myself to admit anything to my family beyond Sarinowyn calling off the engagement. Everyone still thinks she ended it because I was after her money. And when loan thugs found out I was back in Cyrodiil, they started showing up with threats concerning my unpaid dues. I asked my father for an early allotment from my inheritance to get them off my back, but he refused. He said ... it was important that I learn to face the natural consequences of my choices." Talvao was silent for a moment as he examined the four thin rings of silver that nestled together like a puzzle on the middle finger of his right hand. Each band glowed with a different color of magic. "He was right, of course, but he didn't know the extent of my problems. And even if he did, he probably would have given me the same answer. So, after we argued, I decided I would manage my financial problems on my own, not because he told me to, but to prove I could do it without him. But first, I had to take care of my other problem."

It was all coming clear to the drow now. "By caging yourself …"

"Slavery is illegal in Cyrodiil, but a few slavers still operate underground there. Slave cages are large and strong enough to resist the strength and magic of frenzied khajiits and argonians. I figured it would be a safe place to hide during the moon cycles. But, the cavern was raided before I could make the purchase, and I was arrested with the slavers. I was held in Imperial City's prison for about two weeks. My father was livid at hearing I'd been arrested for slave trading. He refused to come see me in prison or even stand in witness for me. The council eventually agreed they had no evidence to convict me of slave smuggling, even though I had been trying to purchase the cage. They freed me, cleared of all charges except buying illegal goods - for which I served short time and paid a fine. There are many in Imperial City who still think I'm guilty. I'm just thankful they didn't dig up anything about my time off the coast of Solstheim. If they'd extended my sentence just one more week, they would have found out about my curse. On the other hand, I would have been safely locked away and nothing bad would have happened. So, I wonder sometimes if I should have told them - everything."

"So, you're not accepting your inheritance now because you had an argument with your father back then? That's stupid," she bluntly told him.

Talvalo grew quiet under her criticism for a moment before he continued. "They found his body by the side of the road just outside of town a few days after I was released. They think he was mauled to death by a pack of wolves, but ... I can't help but think …"

Though Chizrae held no emotional bonds to her own father, she knew that, for other kinds of elves, family bonds were sacred. She corrected her theory. "You're not accepting your inheritance because ... you killed your father."

"I don't know," he quietly admitted. "I was a disappointment to him, but I loved my father. I would never have intentionally harmed him. But, he died during one of my blackouts, so ... I just don't know. I don't remember anything. And I didn't want to put any more of my family at risk, so I left Cyrodiil again. I came to Morrowind thinking the Ashlands were the perfect place for me to earn enough money to pay off my debts, or die trying - whichever came first. I went to a Telvanni slaver and tried once more to purchase a cage for hiding during moon cycles, but after what happened last time, I decided to make it a one-shot deal with no strings attached. I borrowed twenty thousand septims from my brother to make the purchase."

"He thinks you gambled it away again," Chizrae stated.

"I told him I would use it to pay off the loan thugs, but since they're still looking for me, he thinks I lost it gambling. I thought I could earn it back by breeding horses, but the initial investments with the ranch dug me into a deeper hole. Then one night, when I didn't make it back to the cage in time, I killed one of my own prize horses. At least, I think it was me. I don't remember. After that, I turned to mercenary work to keep my horses fed while I try to pay back the other debts a little at a time. At least as a mercenary, I can lead a normal life for two weeks each month before I have to return to the cage because of the change. But I don't earn very much because I have to wait out the three-day span of the full moon to pass, and then allow time to recover my memory and read my journals."

Chizrae was quick to catch the significance of what he just said, and she moved to sit down beside him on the edge of the table. "That's why you write everything in your journal?"

"When I wake from the blackouts, I have no memory of who I am or what I've done. Eventually, I do remember my life before the transformation, but everything after that gets erased. To remember what I've done since then, I keep journals. It takes a long time, but reading the journal entries brings back most of the memories. If not for my journals stacked within reach near my cage, I'd start each new month thinking I recently broke up with Sarinowyn, not knowing what was wrong with me. I think she designed it that way, just like she told me of the cure too late. She'll always be the first painful memory restored when I wake."

The drow met his gaze, but was not scornful this time. "Where is your cage now?"

He wasn't sure he wanted to tell her. "In an abandoned thieves' den near Vos."

"Is that why you're leaving, ... where you're going now?"

"The moon is only a few days from full, but because I came back here with Aridis, I won't make it back to my cage in time. I'll just leave for the wilderness near Vos, instead. But I've made notes in my journal for when I wake. I need to check on the horses. I'll keep an eye out for any Realmsfade books. And then I'll come back and meet with Narsean to see if the inn made any profit. Hopefully, that will be enough to help me remember what I was doing before the change."

"And what about your inheritance?"

"I can't take that money, Chizrae. I know it would make things a lot easier, but if my father is dead because of me, ..." Talvalo pressed his palms together, as if in prayer, and tapped his fingertips lightly at his lips. "I have to do this the way he would have wanted me to." He paused a moment and then stood to poignantly face her. "Look, I can't blame you if you don't trust me, especially after everything I just told you. But I'm not trying to run with your money. I'm running ... because I don't want to hurt you. I want to come back. I want to make this opportunity that you've given me work."

The drowess locked eyes with him for a long moment, but said nothing.

He felt as if she were looking right through flesh and bone to his soul. Even now, she was so unlike the other women, sitting in the presence of a confessed werewolf, but seeming not to care. Her calm almost unnerved him. "Can I go now? Or is Spiderbite going to skewer me the moment I reach for that Gnisis book?"

Chizrae chewed her bottom lip for a moment. "I will play hostess to your brother in your absence; but if you had told me this in the first place, I wouldn't have brought him here."

"If I had told you earlier, neither of us would be here. Nobody hires a werewolf for protection. And if the idea of a working partnership scares you now, ... I understand."

Chizrae gave a small laugh. "Where I come from things much scarier than wolves go bump in the dark." The small drowess straightened forward and stood chest-level, looking up to meet his gaze. "Don't forget, you are talking to someone who once aided a vampire through his curse to find a cure."

Talvalo considered that. "Yes, but a vampire is a better conversationalist than a wolf."

Her lips curled in a wry smile, reluctantly appreciating his humor, even now. "As an elf, you talk more than enough to make up for it," she assured him. "But I have nothing against a business partnership with a werewolf, so long as I can keep tabs on you."

Talvalo was visibly relieved. "If you can bear to stay married to me for just one more month, I promise to sign your paperwork when I am back in the mental capacity to do so. You're in my journal. I've written everything I need to remember how to find you again."

"Perhaps this will assist your memory." She took his hand and deposited one of the house teleport keys into it.

He shook his head and immediately gave it back to her. "I can't be trusted with it in wereform." He paused a moment, hesitant, but then bold. "However, ... there is ... _one_ thing that might help."

Chizrae accepted the key back. "One thing?"

"A kiss …"

The drow folded her arms across her chest. "Kissing a drow might turn the elf prince into a frog."

Talvalo smiled lightly in spite of his subtle case of nerves. "Frog would definitely be worse than wolf. No one dares to kiss a wolf, but no one _wants_ to kiss a frog. Still, I think it's worth the risk." Drawing near, he slipped a hand beneath her hairline and kissed her with slow purpose, trying to remember every detail - already searching for the right words to describe it in his journal, so it would come back to him in exactly this way.

Chizrae drew back and gazed into his pale green eyes, as if trying to see the ravenous wolf hiding within. "The key would have been more practical than the kiss to assist your memory."

"I was never the practical sort."

"I have something else to aid your memory then. Wait here."

He gave a small nod of agreement, though he knew the longer he stayed, the more difficult it would be to leave. When she returned, he couldn't believe what she had brought with her - three large money sacks. "What are you doing?"

She set the money on the table and then pulled his travel sack open to begin stuffing the heavy bags into it. "You have horses that are going to be put up for sale against your wishes, and I have always wanted a horse."

Talvalo could hardly believe his ears. "You're buying one of my horses?"

"I'm buying all of your horses."

"But ... I have six horses, and most of them are rare breeds. They're worth over a hundred-thirty thousand septims."

"This should be just enough then. Bring _my_ horses here to the island after you are sure they are safe from your little ... situation. If you eat one of them, I'll be very cross with you." She scowled at him.

He blinked in dismay. "Are you serious?"

"Of course, I'm serious. Do you think I want to pay five thousand septims for a horse that's been eaten? I want them delivered in good health. And when that's done, I expect you to teach me how to care for them and ride them. I've never had a horse before, so I know they won't do well in my care until I know what I'm doing."

Talvalo was almost speechless as the drow faced him and finished her stern orders. "I'll add it to my journal and do my best to bring them back to you." He kissed her cheek, stayed close for a moment, and then made himself back away. In resignation, he turned and walked back down the aisle between the empty bookshelves. As he heaved the heavy pack onto his shoulder, he stopped in the alcove, drew a breath, and reached for the Gnisis Realmsfade book. The same jolt of magic that had hit him before exploded from the book again, but this time, the book remained anchored to its special shelf, and he was the one that was carried away.

))((

Chizrae knew she was taking a terrible risk giving the ex-pirate such a large chunk of her treasure. She knew he'd swipe some portion of it for his own pleasures and then feed her some tall tale for the larger expenses incurred on the journey herding the horses back. However, Llothian priestesses were trained to carefully discern truth from lies. Lloth no longer gave her the divine ability to magically discern between the two, but Chizrae could still tell by the way his body temperature rose and shifted that when Talvalo spoke of those prize breeds, he wanted more than anything to get them out of danger from being auctioned and put them in a safe place. She really did intend to buy a horse once she had her own home. And from a business point-of-view, horses could aid the estate with transport and recreation. But more importantly, they seemed to be the only thing he truly did care about - the only thing she could hold hostage against him, if necessary - that and his secret concerning the death of his father. The bottom line was that she had made another offer he couldn't refuse. She knew he would be back. It was just a question of time.

))((

The ruby necklace was dropped into the ornate jar with a soft clink before Chizrae capped it and set it on the shelf at the back of her armor and weapons display room. Then, she stepped back and studied it amid the other ornaments on the shelf - a small Sixth House statue, a pewter Sixth House cup, and other artifacts she had stolen from Dagoth Ur's guardians.

"That's a lot of ruby necklaces," Aridis commented behind her as he came to a stop from his stroll through the amazing collection of martial craftsmanship. "Strange place for necklaces, though - the weapons room."

Chizrae had explained to her brother-in-law that Talvalo needed to take an emergency trip to Vos to pay for the horses and bring them home. Then, she spent the rest of the week unpacking and organizing her personal belongings with his help. She knew she should have been preparing for her trip to Mzuleft ruins for Edwinna's blueprint mission, but she was enjoying the luxury of being a home-owner - dressing wooden mannequins in her best suits of armor and hanging shields on the walls, instead of having to wear them. "These are not ordinary necklaces. Each one was taken from the body of an ash creature. Each charm is cursed, capable of draining a victim dry. They remind me of the hell I went through to earn the right to live in this world. They should never be disturbed. I wonder, though ..." Chizrae changed her mind and pulled the necklace back out of the jar, studying it as if seeing it for the first time.

Aridis folded his hands behind his back as he moved between the display tables. "These weapons are all so impressive, Chizrae. And yet, you're so small that I can't imagine you using them. I never would have pegged you to be a spellsword by trade. You strike me as more of a priestess - very blunt in matters of truth and consequence - a deep thinker when it comes to matters of the soul. And yet this display of weaponry is perhaps the best martial collection I've ever seen - fine enough to outboast any knight in service of the Empire or member of the Fighters Guild." He stopped in front of a red-velvet-cloaked table bearing a large dwemer gauntlet, a large dwemer hammer, and a small crystal dagger. All three shimmered with the glow of destructive magic. "Is there a reason these are not placed with the other dwemer weapons and suit of armor in the front room?" He reached out to touch the crystal dagger.

"No!" Chizrae suddenly snatched his wrist and rudely jerked him away from the weapon.

Aridis looked at the petite dark elf as if she'd gone mad pouncing him like that.

"I mean, ..." The drow tried to pull herself back into her role of dunmer noblewoman and hostess. "Yes. These weapons are cursed. They will drain the life of anyone who touches them. I am the only one who can safely handle Keening and Sunder. But even I have to be wearing Wraithguard first, or I will suffer the same fate as everyone else." She released his wrist, pocketed the ruby Sixth House pendant, and slipped her free hand into the heavy gauntlet from the table. After which, she was able to grasp Sunder, the heavy war hammer, and safely lift it for him to examine the craftsmanship. "Wraithguard is enchanted to enhance strength, so swinging it isn't as difficult as it looks."

"Remarkable," he commented as he studied the detailed design. "But where in the world did you find something like this?"

"Red Mountain."

Aridis's attention left the heavy hammer for the unlikely small woman that wielded it. "You've been inside the Ghostgate? I've heard dreadful things about that place. Makes me glad I live in Cyrodiil."

Chizrae said nothing more about it, as she set down the hammer that helped her to destroy the heart of a god. Aridis was almost certain to take tales of his visit with Talvalo back to Cyrodiil with him, and though she wasn't sure if he even knew who the Nerevarine was, there was no way she was going to explain to him that she had posed as the legendary general at the request of the Imperial Blades. Let him think what he wished about the matter.

Elgian, the gold elf she hired as her personal trainer came to stand beside them. He had never seen her entire collection either, until he started helping her set it up for display. "Are there any other cursed weapons or armor I should be aware of? As weapons master to House Velve'Xukuth I need to be aware of little details like that when looking for training tools."

Chizrae released Waithguard back to the velvet cloth. "House ... Velve'Xukuth?"

"That's your family name, right? Am I saying it wrong?"

Chizrae had not heard the term used since the last time she was in Menzoberranzan. It was odd hearing him say it now, so formally. She realized, as ironic as it seemed, that she had now become matron of her own noble house. "No, that's correct," she agreed with a small measure of uncertainty.

"If I hadn't just now heard about the curse on those weapons, I might have touched them without knowing and been killed," Elgian unhappily complained. "Are you sure no other items are cursed?"

Chizrae considered how her mother would have responded to such a tart response from her weapons master. "I think I've told you all there is to know about them. Unless you are accusing me of setting some trap against you, I'd be more respectful when second-guessing my certainty in such matters. Now, if you'll excuse me." She left the display room in irritation, but paused outside the door and immediately second-guessed her own tart response to Elgian. She wondered briefly if her beloved Jereassian had taken a spiteful tone with her mother before he was sacrificed, ... or if he begged for his life by pointing the accusations of betrayal toward her. Chizrae knew she would never get the answer to that haunting question, but she was certain she was capable of executing her own weapons master if he ever betrayed her. Perhaps attitudes like this from servants and slaves is why her matron was so harsh. After all, one must do what is necessary to maintain control. On thoughts of control, ... she remembered the amulet in her pocket and headed for the alchemy lab across the hall.

In the alchemy lab, Selena was demonstrating some of her alchemy skills for Mysti and Shazi by explaining the delicacy with which she applied the flames to the daedra's heart in the calcinator. But as absorbed as they were in their study, all three mages looked up when the drow entered the room and approached Shazi, lifting the Sixth House amulet for her to see.

"Is there any way you could enchant a charm for me like this one, but make it constant effect? I'd like some kind of drain spell on it, sufficient to knock out a strong animal without killing it - to make it sleep or something."

The Imperial enchantress studied the design on the amulet and then turned it over to examine ritual markings made with a soul gem during its creation. "A drain fatigue charm might do the trick, but it would depend upon the strength of the animal."

"What about a wolf - a very large, very strong, possibly magical wolf?"

Shazi tilted her chin as she estimated the soul charges it might take. "Hm, ... Slave bracers are designed to constantly drain magic, so I'm sure it could be done with fatigue in the same manner. You'd need a high quality gem - the higher the quality, the longer the effect. The soul within it would need to be something incredibly strong to subdue a creature like that and keep him down - a golden saint," she concluded. "However, there are two other spells you might consider using against animals, if you're wanting to protect yourself without harming them. With a calm spell you could remove the creature's desire to attack and make it docile. Or with a domination spell, you would be able to control it to some extent."

"Domination ... Could you make me something like that?"

"Let's see what kind of soul gems you have," the enchantress suggested, confident that she could.

Chizrae took her to a cabinet and drew out her baskets of high-quality soul gems. "Perhaps I should try out all three spells to see which works best."

"I was about to say the same thing myself." Shazi smiled and began sorting through the collection to find just the right soul gems for the job.


	8. Chapter 8: Secret Weapon

Chapter 8: Secret Weapon

When the time came for Aridis to go back to Cyrodiil, Chizrae escorted him to the library to allow him to use the Gnesis Realmsfade book for his return trip, but she found two books on the special shelves now, instead of one. "Hm. I guess Talvalo passed through Khuul earlier this week on his way to Vos. Would you prefer to go there instead? It's a fishing town, so there are proper ships at the docks."

"Actually, I think I'll stick with Gnisis. The gentleman who brought me there picked me up around Veranis Hall on the other side of the Inner Sea. From there, I can more easily travel across land back toward Cheydinhal. Would you consider a trip to Cyrodiil to meet the rest of the family once Talvalo returns? We're easy to find once you reach Imperial City."

Chizrae made herself smile and remain gracious at the dreaded invitation. "Imperial City is responsible for sending me here. I'm not prepared for such a long journey back, so soon."

"Understandable. Then, would you mind if I recommended Talvalo's inn to a few friends of mine wanting to see the lands of the dark elves? Though you say you are not native to this region, I can't think of any more fascinating dark elf to introduce them to than you. And, this little forested island would make a wonderful vacation spot for someone wanting a change of atmosphere."

"I'm afraid the island is invitation only. But I am willing to receive names and have my security person check references."

"Understandable, as well. Neither kings nor peasants should invite complete strangers to stay in their homes without good reason and good judgment. I will send Talvalo some possible references as soon as I return to Cyrodiil. I also know some people who might be interested in Selena's potions. I'm willing to do what I can to help Talvalo's new business out, seeing as how that's probably the only way I'll see my money again," he added with a humored smile. "Do tell him that I'm sorry I didn't get to see much of him, but I'm very glad I was able to spend some time getting to know you. I hope to see you again some day soon, Chizrae. It's been a true honor to welcome you into the family." He lifted her hand and kissed it before giving her a smile and reaching for the Gnisis book.

Chizrae smiled pleasantly as the noble elf took his leave of her hospitality, but after the magical blast that teleported him calmed, her smile dropped and her eyes drifted to the Khuul book. Then, she faced the tapestry map on the wall that detailed all of Vvardenfell. When had Talvalo passed through Khuul, and where was he now?

"Well, look at you."

Her attention was drawn to the open doorway of the library as Jiub entered and sauntered down the center aisle toward her.

"You're entertaining altmer nobility, wearing silk gowns, and being a proper hostess. If I didn't know better, I'd say marriage has mellowed you, Chiz."

"Please," the drow mumbled and turned her attention back to the map. "It's only been a week. I will _not_ kiss altmer ass for the rest of my life. Still, he wasn't as bad as I thought he'd be. He's like an older, more refined version of Talvalo, except that he's more logical. He's not as, ... spontaneous or imaginative. Aridis has no personality by comparison. He's the sort that would be very predictable." She tried to think of a good way to compare the two brothers. "Aridis looks at the sky and sees a sunset. Talvalo looks at the sky and sees a painting. Aridis tells stories as if they were morality lessons; Talvalo comes up with things like a lizard climbing up his shorts. I suppose it can't be helped, though. I mean we need boring people in the world for some reason, right? At least he wasn't unpleasant. Besides, I'm the one that opened my big mouth and invited him to come visit, so I followed it through to see what kind of information I could find out about Talvalo." She cut a sharp side-glance toward her friend. "By the way, if you think this is out of character for me, I used to be nobility before my exile. I was the sixth daughter -"

"Sixth daughter of the Matron of House Velve'Xukuth, I know, I know. You've told me enough about your family and why they tried to kill you. The only person you haven't said a word about is your father."

"I'm not sure who my father is. In Llothian society, however, the sire is of no consequence. It is the mother's bloodline that gives the right to rule. That throne could have eventually become mine. 'Course I would have had to kill my mother and five sisters to get there, but you know how that goes."

He smirked at her casual way of speaking about such dark deeds as if they were common. He didn't realize that in Menzoberranzan, ... they are. "What about your brother? Isn't he older than you?"

"Doesn't matter. Males hold no place of importance in Llothian society. He only got my rank as Battlecaptain after he tried to kill me; otherwise, he would have never seen that promotion, in spite of his age and experience over me."

"That Arch-mage they accused you of killing must have been of some importance."

"That's only because he belonged to one of the higher ranking noble houses, and it gave them an excuse to condemn House Velve'Xukuth if they could prove our guilt."

The dunmer shook his head in confusion at drow politics. "Thank the gods the elves of Tamriel are nothing like the elves where you're from."

"Treachery is everywhere that people exist, Jiub. Some of us prefer to pretend it isn't, but in the end only the strong and cunning survive. We're not that different from animal species; we're just more complex about it. Instead of isolating the weak and leaving them to die, we tell secrets behind their backs until the whole pack of society is ready to jump on them and devour them. Name any person of notability, and you'll find they have a trove of salivating critics ready to drag them down and rip them apart the minute they get an excuse to sink their teeth in. People are very cannibalistic when it comes to power, therefore those with power will never have peace."

She continued to study the map for a moment before she realized she was doing all the talking. So, she looked to him once more. "Did you want something, or did you just come in here just to accuse me of brown-nosing?"

"I was just curious if the rest of us are allowed to use those books for traveling, too, or if we had to be nobility first." He looked down at his dusty, black leather vest and gave it a light flick as if trying to make it look more presentable.

She smirked at the sarcasm she detected in his tone and gesture. "You can use them. Just make sure you plan for a way back. There's only two keys that teleport back in. I have one, and I'm reserving the other for Talvalo."

Jiub's nose crinkled. "Talvalo? Don't be giving him a key that could let him just waltz into the house unannounced."

Chizrae ignored his scolding and turned her chin back toward the map. "He needs to be able to come and go freely because of the business with the inn. Besides, ... he is my husband, you know."

"I thought you were going to divorce him."

"I am, but he had to leave rather suddenly, so I'll do it when he returns."

"Well, considering he's been gone for a week and was able to short cut to Gnisis, he should be coming back any day now, … unless he's run off with your money."

Chizrae knew that wasn't the case. He had to allow time for the wolf to transition. Because of the time it would take to heal his body and mind, there was no telling where he could be right now. He did, however, say something about going into the wilderness, since he knew he wouldn't be able to reach his cage in time. She traced a finger from Gnisis to Khuul and tried to estimate where he might be right now. "He's probably crossing from Khuul across the Urshilaku Camp and northern Ashlands to save time. Not many places to spend money there." That probably meant he intended to wait out the transformation in wilderness of the northern Ashlands. She frowned slightly as she remembered her trials in that particularly dangerous region. "That's where the ancestor tombs of the Urshilaku clan and the ancient ruins of Kogoruhn are located."

"Kogoruhn?" Though he was dunmer, Jiub was not native to this land and was unfamiliar with some of the more obscure names associated with the region's history.

"The ancient halls of House Dagoth, ... the home of the devil himself."

Jiub snorted at her reference. "You're beginning to sound like the Temple speaking of him that way."

"Well, he was practically transformed into a demon after gaining the power from the heart of a god."

"But he wasn't a god, or a devil."

"Well, he wasn't dunmer anymore either." Chizrae gave him a stern look to remind him that she was the only one of the two of them that had actually laid eyes on the cursed leader of the Sixth House.

"Chimer," he corrected. "The dunmer weren't dunmer until after all that happened and Azura cursed the chimer."

"Whatever," she groused. "My people weren't drow until we were cursed, either, but we can never return to who we used to be so the ancient identity doesn't matter. What matters now is that we were driven away, and we will never forget, ... never forgive." She paused a moment after reciting a common Llothian litany from drow history, but then returned to her topic of concern. "Even if Kogoruhn's ancient halls once housed chimer, it is now overrun with ash creatures, including Ascended Sleepers. They roamed freely in that area even before the Ghostfence went down. If Talvalo seeks shelter in Kogoruhn, or any one of those places out there, he may end up in a cavern that he can't come back out of."

The thief cocked his head to one side to study her expression. "Are you worried about him?"

"I don't think he's ready for that kind of adventure."

Jiub was disgusted. "You _are_ worried about him. Don't tell me you actually _like_ him."

The drow withdrew her hand from the map and calmly faced him. "Whether I do or don't, it's no concern to you. You had no complaints when I was interested in Bodil."

"That was when you had nothing to lose. I'm house security now, remember? You've hired me to protect you. Talvalo shows up out of nowhere, calls you a rose, and gets to put his hands on a money stash that you never even told me about. You allow him to put his name on everything you own, and now you're giving him a teleporting key to the manor. Not only have you given him free reign to rob you blind, but now he can murder you in your sleep. If you expect me to prevent that kind of thing from happening, then whoever interests you, however temporary, is my business. Did it ever occur to you that he could be lying about where he went?"

Chizrae considered the tone in the altmer's voice and the expression on his face the last time she saw him. "Talvalo has nothing to gain by lying to me, but plenty to gain by keeping to our alliance. He will protect his own interests, but he's smart enough to recognize that I am the best means for him to do that right now. He could have killed me out in Molag Amur, or any other night, if he wanted to, … as could you, at any time, for that matter. But you both know that it's more beneficial to let me live. I'm giving you free housing and regular, _legal_ hire. Besides that, if either of you _were_ to steal from me, or kill me, everyone else on the estate would hunt you down for robbing them as well. Not to mention the fact that if the Ashlanders were to find out you killed their Nerevarine, or if the Great Houses found out that you killed their Hortator, you wouldn't be able to enjoy a bit of that stolen gold before the Empire hunts you down for treason - a crime that is punishable by death the last time I heard. Only the Empire is allowed to kill me, Jiub."

"And what if he's an Imperial agent sent to keep an eye on you and let the assassins in? Would you still just hand him the key?"

"He refused to accept the key, if you must know. That hardly sounds like an Imperial spy wanting to let assassins into the house. I say you're just jealous that he was told of the money before you were."

Jiub's gruff voice lowered, almost to a growl. "And I say he's still hiding something from us."

Chizrae gave an amused snort at that comeback. She debated whether she should share Talvalo's secret with the other dark elf, but after a moment, she decided against it. It was not so much that she felt she should honor her promise not to tell anyone, as much as having the advantage of knowing something Jiub did not. She had to use this somehow to keep the balance in her favor. "Well, we all have our little secrets, don't we." Her long silk gown swished quietly as she walked past him and back up the stairs to the main floor.

))((

Several nights later, as the weather continued to warm, Chizrae lay in the hammock on the back deck and lazily stared up at the two moons. She wondered which one controlled the wolf's blood in Talvalo's veins, Masser or Secunda - or both? She made a mental note to ask about that when he returned, as she heard the back door open and tried to guess the approaching footsteps by the weight and quickness of the pace. _A human ... female …_

"Chizrae?"

_Shazi ... _The drowess recognized the voice without looking toward her companion. "It's a good sign," she spoke in response.

The enchantress was slightly confused. "What is?"

"The Steed is on the rise." Chizrae stared at the twinkling stars in the constellation as the chimes stirred gently in the trees surrounding the large pond. "It means Talvalo will successfully bring my horses home."

"Actually, it just marks the beginning of Mid-Year, the sixth month." Shazi informed the Outlander with a smile. "It will be summer soon. You are familiar with our seasons by now, I trust?"

"Yes. They are the one thing that all of the worlds I have visited have in common." Chizrae tilted her head on the pillow to see what the Imperial woman wanted.

"I brought you something." Shazi drew her arms from behind her back and offered the drow an intricately carved wooden staff that glowed of destructive magic.

Chizrae sat up with interest and shifted her black mini-skirt before receiving the rod. "What's this?"

"You asked me to make you a charm that would drain a wild animal enough to make it sleep without harming it. The more that I thought about it, the more I realized a charm would have to be placed around the creature's neck for the constant spell to be effective. If you're being attacked, you're not likely to get that chance. So, I hope you don't mind, but I decided to try something a little more logical - a staff."

Chizrae gripped the staff and tested its weight. "I haven't used this kind of weapon much. I'm afraid I might not be very good with it. You should have made it a sword."

"A sword would kill or maim the animal. You said you didn't want that. This staff won't do much physical damage, but when it strikes, but it will sap the energy from the animal so rapidly that it should drop within a matter of seconds from fatigue. The most the animal would receive is a bruise, depending on how hard you choose to hit it. My only warning is that you take care not to break it. If you break it, the enchantment might be lost."

Chizrae looked at her new staff with appreciation now that she knew its secret. "I'll ask Elgian to train me in its use right away."

"There's also this." Shazi reached into her pocket and withdrew a large tooth-shaped amulet on a silver chain. "This charm has been imbued with a calm spell for a constant effect. Once the creature is asleep, you may slip this around its head. When it wakes, it will be docile, and it will remain docile until the charm is removed." Shazi passed the charm to Chizrae, and then pulled a second one from her pocket - a sparkling sapphire on a silver chain. "But if the first charm is not enough to bring the desired results in controlling the animal, there is this one. It is imbued with a domination spell. You wear this one - not the animal. With it, you can cast the spell, give a simple command, and the animal will obey you."

"What kinds of simple commands?"

"Anything from 'sit' to 'kill'." The Imperial woman cleared her throat. "Naturally, I don't recommend using the latter command unless you are being attacked by something else and need the animal's aid."

Chizrae examined her new magical trinkets carefully. "I want to test them out."

"There are rats, mud crabs, and cliff racers all over the shores here. There's probably even some nix-hounds on the east road to Ebonheart."

The drow shook her head. "It needs to be a true test. I have another place in mind."

))((

After using the Realmsfade book to teleport to Khuul, and taking a boat from Khuul to cross the frigid straits to Solstheim, Chizrae, Mia, and Bree arrived at the docks of Fort Frostmoth and pulled their cloaks closer around themselves in the blustery wind and lightly falling snow. Their normal travel clothing was not insulated enough to keep them warm in these frozen conditions, with the exception of Mia - the khajiit had a natural fur coat beneath her fur-skinned attire. Chizrae saw Bree's sun-loving face tighten as she turned her head longingly toward the black smoke rising from several of the fort's chimneys. The court and interior chapel would be warm, no doubt, but the drow was not interested in Imperial business. She wanted a wolf.

Chizrae left her companions to speak with one of the well-bundled Nords standing near the well. "Excuse me. I've heard this region has a lot of wolves. Would you happen to know where I might find one of their dens, or at least point me to a fur trader that might know where to locate some?"

"If you're wanting to buy furs, stop at that inn over there or check with the armorer in the fort. If you're wanting to hunt wolves, go behind Fort Frostmoth and keep going toward the groves. There's plenty of pelts around here for the taking; and the further north you go, the tougher they get. Just be careful that you don't get a plagued one, or you could come down with a rather nasty illness," the Nord advised.

She nodded her thanks, returned to her companions, and pointed west. "That way."

"Hunting skins for sake of hunting skins," Mia spoke as she carefully placed her sensitive feline toes on the cold ground. "It's not rrrright. Hunting wolf for slave. It's not rrrright. Wolf should be free to roam. Khajiit are perrrfect predators, but we do not kill unless it is necessary. Pointless killing is a waste."

"I think you misunderstood my reasons for doing this, Mia. I only want to capture it and test its behavior regarding some enchanted items I had Shazi create for me."

"I was speaking with the captain of the ship," Bree spoke through chattering teeth. "And he said there was more than one kind of wolf on this island. The more rare breed, the snow wolf, is found only in the far northern mountains. If we're going to be heading that way, I think we should buy some more appropriate clothing. I'm freezing to death having come from summer in Seyda Neen."

"I'm not planning to go that far. Hopefully this won't take long," Chizrae answered.

The drow led her companions west and north from the back of the fort, and beyond it into the groves. They walked a good distance from the fort, until it was difficult to see it for the trees. The snow began to fall heavier and pile up deeper, so that the khajiit began hissing curses under her breath like a cat who resented having to get its feet wet.

Finally, Mia's nose picked the scent of wolf on the wind and her ears flattened against the back of her skull. "There," she pointed where a pack of common black wolves paced near the foothills of the central mountains. "Six of them," she counted as she gestured for her two companions to keep perfectly still.

"How do we single out only one without the others attacking?" the bosmer asked, quietly drawing her bow from her back.

"We let it come to us." The khajiit gave a cunning, sharp-toothed smile and opened her travel bag. Though Mia was an herbalist and healer, the nature of her race also qualified her as an able hunter. She took out a wrapped chunk of raw beef and carefully selected a place to set in the snow so that the scent of raw animal flesh would eventually reach the noses of the pack. After she had informed her companions of the rest of her plan, they split up and quietly crept away, in a triangular formation, to climb into some of the surrounding trees for high advantage and safety. All they could do now was wait and see which wolf was alert enough to pick up the scent of the beef and seek it out.

About fifteen minutes passed before one wandering wolf from the pack lifted its head in their direction and sniffed the air. It glanced over its shoulder to its brethren in the pack, and then cautiously crept away from the others to see what kind of free morsel had been left nearby. The first to make the kill always got the first serving before having to share it, so stealth was important, even if the prey was already dead.

The trio in the trees waited without making a sound, until the wolf was finally over the meat and licking it - beef was not the usual fare for a wolf in Solstheim, so it wasn't sure whether it liked it or not at first.

Bree readied a magical arrow in her bow, ready to fire upon any of the other wolves that came a little too close a little too soon.

Mia dug her claws into the tree bark where she sat and pulled a rope net from her bag.

Chizrae leaped from the tree into the snow and steadied her new staff before her as she waited for the wolf to charge. He didn't disappoint.

Startled by her sudden presence, the wolf raced forward. The drow positioned her feet and hit it with the staff as it leaped for her. It yelped and fell to the ground, but it had more stamina than she anticipated. Back on its feet in seconds, it aimed lower this time - her leg. She cried out as its teeth sunk into her knee, but she still managed to bring the staff down on its back. This time when the wolf yelped, the spell engulfed it. The staff's magic drained its energy and left it in a state of deep unconsciousness. Chizrae had successfully caught her wolf. The scuffle, however, had drawn the attention of some of its pack brethren, and two more wolves were bounding toward her. "Bree!"

"I'm on it!" Bree fired a paralysis arrow at the wolf in the lead, stopping him in his tracks.

Mia jumped down from her perch and dragged the captured wolf out of the way as the drow swung the staff toward another wolf.

Chizrae's staff collided against the other wolf's shoulder just before another of Bree's arrows hit it, but the other three were racing their way.

"Go!" Mia told Chizrae, passing her the end of the net with the captured wolf. "These two will die if the arrows rrrremain. I will do quick heal so therrre is no waste!" The khajiit then looked to Bree's tree and gestured for the bosmer to guard her until she was done.

"Take this!" Chizrae passed her staff to Mia, grasped the net, and jerked the ropes to securely tie them. Then, she pulled one of Selena's unique feather potions from her pocket and drank it down as quickly as she could. The potion decreased her weight while increasing her strength.

Bree hopped down from the tree and flipped her bow back over her shoulder to grab the staff from Mia. "Hurry!"

Mia quickly removed the magical arrows from the two wolves that Bree had shot and cast small heal spells over their wounds to spare their lives.

Hefting the unconscious wolf easily in her arms, Chizrae ran back toward the fort as fast as her injured leg would allow.

Bree slammed the staff into the oncoming wolves, holding her own against them until two of them dropped under the power of the drain spell. Mia, helped her take down the final one, and then the two of them raced back through the snow to catch up with the drow before the sleep and paralysis magics wore off.

Back near the safety of the guarded docks of the fort, Chizrae stopped running and set her wolf down in the frozen ground. She paused to catch her breath as the bosmer and khajiit rejoined her, then she worked quickly to untie the net and expose the wolf's head. Drawing the calming amulet out of her pocket, she placed it over his neck and shoulders before withdrawing and taking her staff back from Bree, just in case she needed to use it again.

Bree stepped back and readied her bow with another paralysis arrow.

"Don't need that. The sleeping staff worrrks." Mia pushed her arm aside.

"But we don't know how many charges it's good for. We may have already used it up." The elf reinstated her aim for intervention, if necessary.

They all clustered with caution around the black wolf as it began to stir. Little by little, its eyes opened, and its energy returned. It drew its legs underneath itself and stumbled trying to stand. After a few seconds more, it sniffed the net, and then lifted its eyes to the three women standing in guarded positions around it. The wolf made no move to charge them. It didn't snarl or growl. In fact, it backed away and sat down.

"He is frrrrightened," Mia spoke first in assessment.

"But it's a calm fear," Bree noted.

Chizrae removed the domination charm from her pocket and pulled it on over her own head. Raising her hands, she cautiously approached the wolf and cast the domination spell over him. "Come." She backed away and kept her staff ready.

The wolf whimpered in protest at having to move against its will, but it stood and followed to stand before her.

"Sit." When it obeyed, Chizrae reached a cautious hand to give the wolf's head a pat, ... and then a scratch. "Good boy," she murmured again, rewarding it with gentle attention to try to ease some of its fear.

Bree lowered her bow and came forward. "Shazi's charms actually work. He's magnificent, isn't he?" She flipped her bow onto her back before leaning forward to pet the wolf, too. "He almost looks like a big puppy sitting there like that. If we're nice to him, maybe he'll not be afraid anymore. Maybe he'll think this isn't such a bad deal after all, huh?"

"No. He is a wild animal." Mia came forward and pulled another slab of beef from her pack, setting it before the wolf, to try to ease some of his discomfort. "He has no way of knowing we will not harrrrm him. Only time and trrrrust can rrrremove fearrrr."

The wolf sniffed the meat and hungrily began to devour it.

"If you wish to tame him," the khajiit told the drow, "you will have to earrrn his trrrrust. And even then, be cautious about rrrremoving the charrrm that calms him. His behaviorrr will always lean towarrrrd instinct."

Chizrae had not originally planned to do that, but the idea of having a wolf trained for security purposes did have its appeal. "I want to see if its possible to use the charms as a means of training. If I don't see favorable results, both for myself and the wolf, then I'll waste my time no further and bring it back to set it free."

"What are you going to name him?" Bree asked.

As the wolf finished its last bite and looked up at her with its big yellow eyes, licking its lips appreciatively, a name settled into Chizrae's mind. "Lorkhan. ... Lorkhan's heart was at the root of all the chaos under Red Mountain. It was Lorkhan's heart that the deep elves coveted and that led to Nerevar's betrayal. I am a deep elf, whose people were cursed and banished, whose house was destroyed, and who was personally betrayed. For me, Lorkhan's name will always be a reminder to handle powerful things with care, or my consequences could be fatal."

))((

Lorkhan - or Loki, as he soon came to be called - padded through the carpeted aisles of the Mysthaven Manor library sniffing the scattered crates and poking his head into them. The only thing he found in them, however, was a load of musty old books and a nose full of dust. It would always lead to a loud snort and a sneeze before he would give up and walk to the next crate to see if it had anything different. The large, white tooth-charm on the silver chain that hung from his neck like an extravagant collar contrasted beautifully against his black fur, so that, in an odd sort of way, he looked very similar to the drow that had adopted him.

Chizrae smirked at the wolf's somewhat naive exploration of his new home, wiped the sweat from her brow, and gave a small tug to her light, sleeveless top before grabbing another armful of books from a crate and stacking them on the shelves in alphabetical order. Three weeks later, and she was still unpacking. She had completed her quest to Mzuleft and found Edwinna's blueprint for her, but then the guild steward turned around and gave her yet another request to retrieve another blueprint from the Gnisis egg mine. Since she had the Realmsfade book from that town, she agreed to do the mission right on the heels of the previous one. Both missions had yielded two very large dwemer tomes in surprisingly good condition. Stacking the books on the shelves near her desk in the living room, she placed _Hanging Gardens_ with them and wrote a note to herself to take them back to Baladas Demnavanni in Gnisis at a later date. After all, she was still trying to get her house in order.

It was a balmy day, so the manor had been opened to allow the coastal breeze to filter through all the doors and windows. But the library had no windows, and it was beginning to feel rather hot and stuffy in there. The drow paused and was just about ready to do the unthinkable by wishing for some more of last month's rain, when a loud clap of thunder suddenly burst behind her. Loki yelped and snarled, but then loped away to hide under a table. Chizrae spun around and stumbled backwards into the shelves, knocking several books to the floor, but in spite of its noise, the magic that had just been set off in the library was not a threat. There, on the Realmsfade shelves, sat book number three - Vos.

Once she realized what had caused the startling noise, a slow smile of relief spread across the drow's burgundy lips. But then an unbidden worry came to mind. What if it wasn't Talvalo that had found the book? What if someone else had accidentally found it, and he was still wandering, running with her money, lost in the northern Ashlands, or dead? Chizrae lifted a hand to touch the items on the silver chain she wore at her throat - one was the sapphire domination charm meant to keep the wolf in check if necessary, and the other was the teleporting key to her front door. Since she had the key on her, she stepped forward without armor or weapons and touched the new Vos volume on the shelf in the alcove.

Sucked through the teleportation magic in the book, she instantly found herself standing on a hill outside of the eastern coastal farming town of Vos in the Grazelands. Chizrae looked around for Talvalo, figuring he must be near for having just sent the book home - if it had been him that sent it - but the battlemage was nowhere in sight. The drowess was grateful for the fresh breeze, but her eyes stung in the brightness of the noon sun.

Shielding her face with her hand, she headed to a dunmer woman speaking with a Telvanni guard outside of the farming town wall. "Excuse me. Is there a horse ranch around here somewhere?"

"Back that way," the dunmer woman sharply answered her in an annoyed tone. "You can take the road for a direct path, or take a shortcut over the hills down by the docks." The woman turned back to the guard. "Filthy _n'wah_," she muttered under her breath in reference to the obviousness of the Outlander.

Chizrae's lips thinned into a straight line. She was half-tempted to introduce herself to the ungrateful dunmer by leaving an imprint of the Moon-and-Star ring in the woman's right cheek. But she drew a breath and resisted the impulse. Drawing attention to herself as the Nerevarine was not what she ultimately wanted. "Bite me," the drowess muttered under her breath as a compromise, and headed down the path toward the docks, instead.

))((

The back door of the Varo Tradehouse opened, and an altmer with neatly tied-back, red hair stepped out into the sun. Talvalo crept down the spiraling steps, checking the direction toward the docks and the town to be sure he wasn't spotted by anyone. He was pleased that he had found a Realmsfade book, but it had been inside the owner's private quarters. He took nothing else, but he didn't want to get arrested for breaking and entering just for casting magic on the lock and being in there.

When his boots touched solid ground once more, and he started toward the sandy hills on the other side of the dirt road, he noticed a female dark elf with a silver-white ponytail was already heading in that direction ahead of him. He blinked, stunned for a moment by the exotic shade of her skin, and then recalled something he had read in his journal. "Ebony skin and snow white hair ..." It took him a moment to make the mental connection to who she might be, but certainly there was no other dark elf in Morrowind that looked like that. "Excuse me!" he called to her as he jogged to catch up to her.

Chizrae stopped and shook the sand from her shoes as she turned around. Seeing him running toward her brought an unexpected smile to her lips. "Long time no see, stranger," she commented as he drew near and stopped a few paces below her on the hill.

He squinted up at her against the backdrop of the clear blue sky. "Is your name Chizrae?"

The drow's smile faded and she walked back down a few paces to stand directly before him.

Talvalo studied her face as if seeing it for the first time.

"You don't remember me, do you?"

"Yes, of course I do," he answered with a confident smile. "An elf with skin the color of ebony with hair the color of snow," he recited, but since that is where the descriptive stopped, he had no presumptions of what she might look like beyond that. He was pleasantly surprised. "I just found a Realmsfade book for you, and I'm supposed to deliver some horses to you, and …" He opened his journal and quickly flipped back a few pages.

Chizrae snatched the journal from his hands. "You don't remember me," she confirmed with annoyance.

He paused and shook his head in honesty. "I'm sorry. I read everything I wrote about you in my journal, but I can't seem to find you in my head. I do have one question, though. Are we ... married?" he awkwardly asked. "According to my journal, we married for the sake of contract, and I am supposed to return to sign divorce papers to give you sole custody of the estate."

"Yes, that's true."

"Oh." He paused in another awkward moment of trying to find answers to his questions. "Were we ... close?"

The dark elf hesitated before answering. "Not really. We met in Caldera only a couple of days before the license was signed. You told me about lizards going up your shorts, and I told you about being exiled from a different world. That was about it."

Talvalo drew back and made a face. "I told you about the lizard? What was I thinking? Wait - different world? You're not dunmer?"

"I'm drow," she repeated for him, as if bored with having to explain this again. "I came from Menzoberranzan because I was exiled. I was accused of murder and theft that I did not commit. My mother had my lover's heart cut out with a spider-shaped dagger to offer to the spider goddess as partial punishment for that crime. For my other punishment, my brother stabbed me in the back and left me for dead. I was exiled, and my house was destroyed. So, ... I found my way here."

Talvalo was speechless for a moment. "Good lords. I'm ... sorry to hear that."

"Write it down in your journal, so that I don't have to repeat myself next time." She thrust the book back into his chest.

He accepted his book back, but wondered at her sour mood. "I'm sure that memories of you will come back to me with a little more time," he offered apologetically. Then, he realized what she meant beyond the sting of being forgotten, and he became troubled. "Next time ... So, you do know about it then. According to the journal, I told you everything about who I used to be and what I am now - why I am unable to remember things well because of my ... condition." He hesitated to say anything specific about it in case he was mistaken somehow.

"I know about the curse." She confirmed, but shrugged it off as if it were of no consequence.

"And, ... it doesn't bother you?"

"If you try to tear out my throat, then it will bother me. Otherwise, I've seen worse."

"Oh." He wasn't sure what that meant.

"Where are the horses?"

"This way." He led the way up the sandy hill toward the grass and down onto the grounds of the Pegas Horse Ranch. As he walked, he looked around at the buildings, trees, and various horses milling about in their stables, drinking in their familiarity as more of his memories about the place came back to him without the aid of the book now.

))((

Chizrae followed him to a set of stables where several horses were housed. He stopped in front of a white one with a long, wavy mane and opened the old wooden gate to led her directly to the horse. She noticed the way his eyes lit up as he smoothed the horse's strong, graceful neck and well-toned flanks. Finally, she had to admit it annoyed her. "You remember the horse, but you don't remember me?" She folded her arms at her chest.

"I -"

"You don't remember hounding me in Caldera until I hired you to guide me through Molag Amur? You don't remember walking into the door sills of a dwemer ruin and nearly knocking yourself senseless? Or dropping a large dwemer cog through the dock at Vivec right on top of a slaughterfish? Or dancing in Balmora? Or being attacked by an ash zombie in a Sixth House shrine? Or -"

"I was attacked by an ash zombie? Oh wait, was that - yes! I remember that one. Well, I remember reading about it, at least."

"You recorded the fight with the ash zombie, but you didn't record anything about me?"

His brows drew together with mild concern. "Well, I did record that you saved my life, but ... you make it sound as if we did a lot more than what I recorded."

Chizrae thought of the way he kissed her before he left. "We did."

He slowly shook his head. "I'm truly sorry that I don't remember." After another awkward moment of long silence, he sighed and turned his attention to the horse. "This is the only common breed I have left. She's the first one I started with, but I had to sell the others because the costs of keeping so many were bleeding me dry. She's a Skyrim, of course, and in excellent condition. I just call her Sky. She's the mother of two of my cross-breeds." He smoothed the horse's strong flank again and backed up to let Chizrae inspect her purchase. "Still interested?"

As she stepped up to the horse and tentatively sank her dark fingers into its thick white mane, the drow wondered why he recorded nothing about the kiss, even though he said he wanted to remember it. "Yes." She walked the length of the horse for an inspection.

"You're supposed to check her teeth, hooves, joints, ask her age …"

"Can't I just buy her because I like her?"

He shrugged and smirked. "Well there's that, too."

"Where are the others?"

Talvalo stepped out of the stall and held the gate for her to pass through before locking it back into place. He led her to the next stall, which held a pale brown horse with grass-green streaks. "This one is an Ashlandi - an uncommon cross-breed, worth a little more than the Skyrim. I just call him Ash." He kept going to the next stall. "This one is Ascadian." The horse in it had a white wavy mane like the Skyrim, but was a darker shade of brown. The sunlight revealed purple highlights on its shiny flanks.

"Let me guess. You just call it Ass?" The drow allowed herself a wry smile at her own joke.

He chuckled at the pattern she'd found in his overly simplistic naming technique. "Actually, his name is Comet. I saw a shooting star in the Stallion constellation the night that he was born, so I knew he was going to be a strong one. He's one year old exactly now." He turned around and pointed to the stall next to them. "I have another Ashlandi over there - female. And I have a male Zafir - that brilliant white one over there with blue eyes. The Zafir and Ascadian are brother and sister bred from the Skyrim," he informed her. "I would love to have an Emperator as well; but I would have to buy two other completely different horses for breeding stock, and I just can't afford such a thing right now. I'm barely making enough coin to keep them fed and sheltered."

She smiled at how enthusiastic he became talking about his horses. They clearly meant a lot to him, even if he had squandered way too much money on them. "And the sixth horse?"

"A colt." He grinned and led her toward the stables in a different area of the ranch. "This one was supposed to be the beginning of my payback. It's a very rare breed - so rare that everyone told me they didn't really exist." He stopped at a stable and opened the latch to let her walk in. "After you."

Chizrae snorted with a mild laugh. "This again."

"Hm?"

The drowess sighed at his memory loss and entered the breeding pen to find a small horse with mixed light and brown fur, but this horse had a blue cast to its dark mane and tail, and a white star amid a shimmering purple and blue pattern on its hind flanks.

"It's called an Azuralia. This breed can do magic and run like the wind as they mature. This horse alone is worth all the rest of them combined."

Chizrae crouched near the resting colt and let it sniff her hands as it sought some kind of treat. "Have you named it yet, or are you holding out for something besides just Az?"

He quieted with a slight smile at her continued teasing. "No name yet. I wasn't sure whether I'd still have her anymore when I came back. I wasn't sure whether I'd have any of them."

Chizrae scratched the colt's forehead and turned her attention to the other elf. "What happened after you left Mysthaven? Can you remember anything of your journey through Gnisis and Khuul, or how you came to Vos?"

He gave a helpless shrug and glanced over his shoulder to make sure none of the stable hands were eavesdropping, and then lowered his voice. "The last thing I remember before blacking out was walking along a river bank in Solstheim just before dusk. When I woke, I was in the Ashlands under a silt strider shell with several shredded nix-hound carcasses nearby. It was a gruesome sight, and I had no idea what I was doing out there all alone like that. But when I dug into my bag for some clothes, I found my journal. I had left notes for myself about what I should do next. So, following my notes, I came to Vos to check on the book for you, pay off the fees at the ranch, and check the horses. After they were taken care of, I found a cavern where I keep the rest of my journals. I was able to piece together an idea of what happened to me because I had written in the top one about how I came to be infected. So, I stayed in there for about a week reading and trying to catch up on my own life. I didn't realize so much time had passed since I left Solstheim, ... and the things that happened in between." Talvalo grew quiet as she came to his side.

"Then, at least you did not accidentally wander into Kogoruhn. I doubt you would have made it out alive, if you had gone in there alone without your full senses." She was thoughtful for a moment. "Where is this cavern of yours that you cage yourself in?"

"East of here."

"I want to see it."

He seemed embarrassed. "Why?"

"I think I can help."

"You know of a cure?"

"No. But I might be able to help manage the transformation if I can learn how it affects you."

He was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I want to observe the change."

"What?" Talvalo shook his head. "No. Nobody should be anywhere near me when the change happens." He lowered his gaze this time instead of his voice. "You have no idea the things I've done without realizing -"

"I know about the death of your father."

The altmer looked back up at her with surprise, ... and shame.

"I realize the danger," she added. "But there's got to be a better solution than running away and losing yourself to it. In fact, the more that you run from what you've become, the more it will end up devouring who you used to be. How many more times do you want to risk not be able to make it to that cage in time? You fear your own lack of self-control, and I might be able to help you gain it. Why would you say no to that?"

"Why would you do this for me?" he asked, instead.

Chizrae didn't know that answer herself. Why _had _she become so obsessed over finding a workable solution for him? "Maybe, ... I relate to cursed souls. Maybe I despise self-pity and guilt." She shrugged lightly and eased up on the temperament a little as she considered her conversation with Jiub. "Maybe I don't want you to die alone in the wilderness the next time you have to leave. Besides, I have another business proposition for you. If I can help you regain some control over the transformation, I would like for you to stay on at Mysthaven Manor."

"Stay?" He remembered reading in his journal about wanting to stay, but not being able to. He understood his reasoning now just as easily as he did then. "It's not a good idea."

"Every drow house leader has a secret weapon that no one else knows about." She slowly lifted her gaze to look him squarely in the eye. "A werewolf that can be controlled to some degree could make a great secret weapon, Talvalo."

He was quiet for a moment as he tried to absorb what she was suggesting, but he also tried hard to latch onto something of importance that felt just beyond his reach. "Are you sure there was nothing more than business between us?"

"Strictly business." She decided not to explain further.

He reluctantly surrendered the argument. "I'll show you the cavern and let you observe the next transformation, but only on the condition that you help me rebuild my memories of these things I didn't write down. ... I think I'd like to remember more about you next time."

The drow smiled and nodded in agreement. "You might not be able to prevent the change, but I think it's possible to tame it. I have proof."

The altmer was skeptical. "Proof?"


	9. Chapter 9: Check Mate

Chapter 9: Check Mate

Aria came out of the manor home and walked past the pond down the path toward the large garden where Mia was working to get rid of the weeds that were beginning to choke out the wickwheat. "Here you are. Try one of these." She passed the bottles to the khajiit. "This one is for disease resistance, and this one is poison. I recommend that you add ample amounts of the disease resistance potion to your slaughterfish fertilizer, but then spray the exposed stem and leaves lightly with a diluted poison solution."

The khajiit was slightly insulted. "Mia not put poison on her garrrden."

"You won't have a garden left if you don't do something to get rid of those parasites."

"Won't have strrrrong body left if we put poisons on food," Mia disagreed with a slight growl.

"Oh, for heaven's sake. It would barely be enough to even call it poison. You have no problem snorting moon sugar, but you won't use a mild, washable poison on your wheat sheaves? At least use it on the plants intended only for alchemy harvesting."

At the fence nearby, Chizrae shook her head and stayed out of the argument between the two herbalists, as she continued to fill the dirt around the new comberry bush she just planted. Of the many skills she needed to acquire over her lifetime, she never dreamed that farming would be one of them. She had been born and bred a noble in an underground city of darkness and rocks, free of soil and toil. Now, she was having to learn from the khajiit how to sustain herself from her own land … under the sun.

They were late getting started with planting season, so they purchased half-way matured plants, rather than seeds or seedlings. Though the primary crops were herbs and vegetables, many hard-to-find alchemy ingredients were also kept in mind. Comberry, she was told by her mages, had many beneficial alchemy attributes. But because comberry juice and wine had quickly become the drow's favorite local drinks, Chizrae wanted to plant a comberry orchard along the fence between the main house's and guest houses' gardens. When she finished pressing the cool soil around the last of the small comberry bushes, the drow stood and removed her gloves. "That's it. I'm not doing this anymore. It's too bright, and too hot," she grumbled to Mia, as she removed her straw hat to fan herself.

"Then drow will not have delicious comberry foods to eat or rrrrrestorative potions when she needs them," the khajiit scolded.

"Drow are not meant to work under the sun like this. From now on just leave instructions for me in the tool shed, and I'll do my gardening in the evening."

She walked toward the shade of the trees and crouched near the edge of the pond to splash some water on her face. The herbs and vegetables were largely under the control of the mages, but having made the decision to garden at night from now on, the drow realized she wanted something entirely different for herself. She had adapted well to living on the surface, but scorching days like this made her miss the cool, dark caverns and soft glowing shades of phosphorescent fungi from her Underdark homeland. As she looked speculatively at the empty spaces between the moss trees, sounds of horse whinnies from the distant docks soon interrupted her vision, announcing the arrival of Bodil's longboat.

"Looks like Talvalo has finally made it back from Vos with your horses, Chizrae!" Aria called out as she carried her rejected poison potion to the tool shed.

It had been almost two weeks since the drow found Talvalo in Vos and discussed their options for bringing the valuable horses back with them to Mysthaven. After studying the map and considering expenses, physical effort, and time, the battlemage had decided to take his chances cutting back across the northern Ashlands with all of the small herd on land, rather than trying to break the delivery into segments to transport them individually by ship. Chizrae had teleported back to the manor to give the spare key to gro-Nob, instructing him to help Talvalo bring the horses safely home. She had not heard from either of them since, so it was a huge relief to know that they had finally returned. Her investment was now safe, and her companions had survived the horrible trek.

Chizrae ran down the stone path and out through the fenced perimeter of the main house. She had to place a hand on her hat to keep it from flying away as she continued to run across the wide-open distance past the inn and forge toward the docks, but she was all smiles when she came to the two elves pushing the Skyrim mare off of the unstable longboat onto the docks. "I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long. Where's gro-Nob?"

"Guarding the other horses back on the mainland. All six of them made it through the journey, but there's too many for this little boat, especially since horses don't appreciate feeling buoyant."

"I gave Narsean the message that you would be late to meet with him, since you were bringing the horses home with you, rather than meeting him at the Tradehouse. So, he said to come see him any time you wanted to talk business," she informed him.

Talvalo accepted that news with a nod and pulled the stubborn Skyrim off of the docks into the grass. "There!" He sighed and wiped his brow. "One down, five to go."

"Need to build a bigger boat if you're going to be transporting horses on and off the island often," Bodil advised Chizrae. Then, he looked back to Talvalo. "Want me to go ahead and bring the next one?"

"Yes. Thank you." Talvalo sighed with heavy fatigue as he watched the bosmer untie the boat and head back toward the fortress's open gate for the mainland. "I will be so ready for a hot bath and some chilled wine when I get the last horse in." He wore light, linen clothes, but having traveled long distances over rough terrain, they were heavily dusted with ash, caked-on mud, and sweat.

"How about a cold swim and a grilled meal, instead?" Chizrae counter-offered. "I'm afraid I haven't hired a cook yet, so we've all been taking turns making meals in the main kitchen with everyone eating together. Bree is making dinner tonight, and she tends to prefer cooking outdoors."

"Slice of paradise after almost two weeks of nothing but salted guar meat. Who am I to turn down Bree's cooking?" Then, he glanced around and leaned down to her ear. "Who's Bree?"

Chizrae was not expecting that kind of question, but she pointed up to the top of the tree-trunk-like fortress wall. The blond bosmer in chitin armor was standing on one foot at rest with her longbow, like a crane, watching Bodil traverse the water to the mainland. "You must relearn everyone's identities before the celebration tonight for the horses' homecoming, or they will wonder why you forgot."

Talvalo turned his attention back to her and was mildly indignant. "Celebration for the horses? Those ignorant animals were nothing but trouble along the way, jumping at every rumble in the rocks. Do you know how hard it was for gro-Nob and myself to keep them together through the Ashlands when every corner we rounded had some kind of predator behind it?"

A dry smile curled the corner of her lips. "Are you suggesting we celebrate your homecoming instead? I didn't pay thirty thousand septims for you. You're barely worth two hundred." She ran a hand over the silken mane of the prized Skyrim.

"I should charge you delivery fees, you know. Oh, before I forget." He dug into his pocket and offered her the other teleporting key. "Gro-Nob told me to give this to you, since he is guarding the other horses still. Once all the horses are inside the gate, we'll take a break before unloading the cargo."

Chizrae accepted the key. "Cargo?"

"Saddles, hay, ... everything you need to care for them. I left nothing behind - not even the registration papers." Talvalo set down his travel bag and opened it to remove a bundle of loosely rolled papers. "They're all yours now." With a somewhat mixed expression, he passed them to Chizrae.

The drow accepted the papers and unrolled them enough to skim the general terms, but over the top of the paper, she could see that he was somewhat disappointed at having to give up his most prized possessions. "You didn't run with the money."

"It was tempting, waking up and finding I had thirty thousand septims in my bag. But I wanted the horses to have a good home, and this place sounded better than abandoning them to whoever could buy them off of the ranch. Besides, I've thought about what you said in Vos, and I've decided to accept your offer and stay on here. I'll work with the horses and the inn to earn my keep, and then leave each month before the ... moon thing." He didn't want to mention the curse by name. "Well, I have to leave anyway to meet with my brother. I owe him quite a bit of money still."

She nodded and rerolled the documents. "Your brother can meet you here, if you prefer."

"Oh, he wouldn't -"

"He's already been here."

"He has?" Talvalo was puzzled, but then his eyes narrowed with suspicion as he confronted the drow. "What did you tell him?"

"The truth," she smiled.

The color seemed to drain from Talvalo's face.

"I told him we were married. I didn't tell him about the curse. Your brother is very ... proper."

"Of course he is. He's perfectly proper in every possible way. How could you tell him I'd married? If my mother finds out I married without inviting her -"

"Talvalo, your mother couldn't possibly be worse than mine. I'm not afraid of her."

"Well, you should be," he frowned. "She's not happy unless she has a say in every aspect of my life, which means she's not going to rest until she can have a say in yours now, as well."

"Look, we have more important things to discuss than this. It took a long time for you to read through your journals and make the trip here with the horses. How long do you have before it happens again?"

Talvalo sighed in resignation and lifted his eyes to the sky where the faint outlines of both moons could be seen, even now. "Five days. But with the Realmsfade books, returning to Vos will be much easier now. I should make it back to the cavern in time if I leave the first day of the full moon before sunset. It's coming back that will still take a large chunk of time away from the few weeks that I have in between."

Chizrae looked down at the key in her palm. Offering it back to him would do no good, since he mistrusted himself to use it while in his wolf form. "We will make the most of your five days then," she decided. Taking the Skyrim's rope in her hand, she coaxed the white horse to follow her to the fenced area near manor house.

))((

That evening, when Talvalo came out of a well-deserved, hot bath, he followed his nose down the stairs and out onto the deck overlooking the large pond at the back of the manor. There, he found Bree and Elgian sitting together at a round, wooden table. The wood elf had traded her chitin armor for a blue bikini and towel-wrap following an evening swim in the pond. The black-haired gold elf that Chizrae had pointed out to her earlier as her weapons trainer had also dressed down for the evening, wearing only a pair of shorts, displaying the prominent elven tattoos over his back and chest. Apparently he had been swimming moments earlier, too. They were threading fresh fish strips onto dried, soaked marshmerrow sticks for the grill. _Fish_ … "That's not what I was expecting to find. I could have sworn I smelled comberry pie."

"You do," Bree answered with a grin. "Narsean brought some from the inn and put them on the grill to keep them warm. Are you ready to eat?"

"Ravenous." He smiled as he discreetly scanned Elgian's tattoos for any symbols of significance from the Summerset Isles. A white tiger behind the right shoulder caught Talvalo's eye. He masked his surprise, but glanced down at his open vest and buttoned it to be sure the tattoo on his own left collarbone was completely covered.

"Well, you'll have to wait a little longer for everything to finish cooking. But then you can have as much as you like."

Elgian looked up from skewering the fish in his hands. "I hear you intend to teach Chizrae how to ride one of those animals that you talked her into foolishly spending her money on." He spoke with a cool, but humored expression.

"Well, yes, but I don't think the purchase was foolish. Those horses are top breed. If she doesn't use them for travel or work, she can always breed them and get her money's worth back in a few years' time. Since she said she needed help caring for them, I assume that means she doesn't know how to ride them." Talvalo lifted his eyes to the grove of moss trees toward the back wall of the fortress. A bonfire was already blazing a safe distance away from the house, where the other hired hands were enjoying the balmy first night of summer with its bright stars and clear moons overhead. He tried to match faces with descriptions that Chizrae had given him earlier. Mia and Aria were setting up baskets from their first harvest in the garden. Or was it Mia and Mysti? The twins, he worried, might give him trouble. Whichever twin it was, the other one was standing with the Imperial couple, speaking with them. Jiub, Bodil, Narsean, and Bren were chatting in a cluster as gro-Nob poured rounds of sujamma for them all. But the drow was noticeably missing. "Where is she, anyway?"

Bree pointed toward the pond. "Before you take a dip, though, could you guys carry this table out there to where the bonfire is? We're going to need a place to put the food and dishes." Standing, she picked up her finished fish tray and remaining skewers.

As Talvalo picked up one side, Elgian picked up the other and continued speaking. "Well, if you're going to teach her how to ride a horse, then I need to teach her how to do battle on one."

"Battle? My horses aren't bred for war. They're bred for running."

"She's going to encounter animals, bandits, and other things on the roads that will challenge her, even if she's on a horse." Elgian offered to back down the stairs of the deck first.

"Once the Azuralia matures, it will be able to cast its own magic and shield her."

"Magic barriers are only so strong," Elgian argued. "It's in her best interest, and the horse's, that she learn riding combat."

Talvalo wasn't happy with that. "Well, if you're going to insist, then at least use the Ascadian for her initial training. It has a more gentle spirit for someone learning to ride. And be sure not to harm it during training, of course."

"Chizrae is _not_ a gentle spirit. I've had years of experience training others in martial arts before coming here. I know what I'm doing, and I'll train her however I see fit," Elgian informed him.

"Every woman has a gentle spirit," Talvalo answered, trying not to think of the white tiger tattoo. "Sometimes it's just bricked behind a wall to protect herself."

"Aw …" Bree grinned at him again as she followed. "See, that's why we missed those sweet words of yours while you were gone."

He offered a slight wink, easily playing off the fact that he couldn't remember her.

"Well, then Chizrae is a fortified castle," Elgian tersely returned. "At any rate, it's more important that she know how to handle herself in a real battle than to protect a horse during a mock trial. Besides, the horse will need to learn how to handle itself in melee as well."

Now Talvalo definitely wasn't happy. "You train the drow; I'll train the horses. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough." Elgian set the table down and adjusted it so that it was level.

Bree set her fish tray back on the table and began taking two at a time to the grill. "Talvalo, could you tell Chizrae to bring out the cushions, so everyone will have a place to sit?"

The battlemage nodded and walked back to the pond to find the drow floating peacefully on her back in the water. Stopping at the water's edge, he leaned low with his hands on his knees. "What are you doing over here by yourself? Can't you see everyone else by the bonfire?"

"I'm being anti-social, of course. Don't you remember writing that about me in your journal?"

The altmer's brows drew together in displeasure. "When did you read my journal?"

"You knew about it before you left. I wouldn't be worth my weight as a drow if I didn't stick my nose into your private business somehow."

He wasn't happy to hear that, but there was little he could do about it now. "Bree asked me to tell you to bring out the cushions."

"In a moment." She stretched on the surface of the water in continued relaxation.

Talvalo waited, but then lifted a brow at her leisure. "Perhaps I should get them, seeing as how you're terribly busy."

"I _am_ busy," she answered with a smile as she gazed up at the sparkling sky. "I'm planning my moon garden."

He was willing to play along. "Okay. What's a moon garden?"

"It's a garden designed for the darkness. It will have draggle tails, luminous mushrooms, and all kinds of night-blooming flowers between the trees. It will look soft and smell sweet only when the sun sets in the cool of the evening. And as the area around the pond glows, the water will reflect the moon and the stars." She was quiet for a moment envisioning it. "It will be like the moon gardens I saw at the Eilistraeen temples and the gardens I once knew in the Underdark, so that I can enjoy the outdoors at a time more suitable to me."

"Underdark?" Talvalo sat down on the grass against a large tree root. "Is that the world where your Menzo-merro-menzan is located?"

Chizrae chuckled lightly at his bad attempt to say the foreign name. "Menzoberranzan," she corrected. "And yes, but it is only the sub-terrain regions. My world is similar to yours on the surface, but beyond the tunnels, the underground is a blend of glowing moss and mushrooms, black and cold waters, and slippery, hard rock formations. It knows no day and night for there is no sun or moon. Time is irrelevant compared to the Land Above with all of its clocks and calendars. We have no seasons or weather. Year-round, the Underdark is cold or hot, depending on how close or far you are from a magma reservoir. Our only measure of time is magic."

"Sounds beautiful."

"It is ... in an ironic kind of way. It is a place where everything is beautiful, but quite deadly."

"Well, that would explain it, then."

Chizrae stopped floating to tread water. "Explain what?"

Talvalo smiled in amusement at the way her white hair clung to her almost invisible face, neck, and shoulders in the darkness, making her look like some kind of phantom water sprite. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I have no reason to assume you're deadly."

"I'm drow."

"That means nothing to me. Are your people known for being warlike or fierce?"

"That's like a mouse asking if a cat has teeth and claws."

"Perhaps I should clarify. It makes sense that your homeland produces beautiful things because you are quite beautiful."

Chizrae snorted in the face of his compliment.

"You know most women would appreciate that kind of sentiment."

"Talvalo, you would think anything in a skirt is beautiful. The fact that I happen to be female is the only reason you wanted to meet me, and its probably one of the reasons you're agreeing to stay with me now."

"I'm staying because of the inn and the horses, ... because you've offered to help me, ... because you don't fear me the way most people would. I don't remember why I wanted to meet you, but I'm quite sure it was because you intrigued me. You're General Nerevar, for gods' sakes," he mildly added.

"No, I'm not," she defensively reminded him, not appreciating being teased about that again.

"Yes, I read that you say you're not, but that's not the point. Because of what I have become, I see beauty in things most people fear. Maybe it's a kind of fatal attraction, but, honestly, what else is there for someone like me?"

The drow wasn't sure whether he meant that as a compliment or not.

"Reading what I've written in my journals," he continued in a somewhat quiet manner. "I often think everyone would be better off if my life were to end prematurely. I fear that it will, you know. Decent citizens can only tolerate so much terror in the night before they hunt down the beast causing the disturbance and slay it. But if I'm going to end prematurely, while I'm still here I want to enjoy the things most people take for granted - like friendships that last for more than a couple of weeks. When I have to leave, I can never return to previous relationships the same way. They wouldn't understand the memory loss, and it's too much for me to try to remember."

"You could record it in your journal."

"I do. But there's only so much I can commit to paper about what I think and feel. I probably won't even remember saying this to you next time, so if you don't believe me, test me. Ask me after the change what I think of you. I'm willing to bet I'll tell you the same thing."

"You'd be willing to bet on anything. I know of your gambling record, too."

His lips curled in amusement as he acknowledged her reproach. "Well, you must be a bit of a gambler, too, to offer someone like me a chance at rebuilding some consistency from such a chaotic life. Lady Luck doesn't visit me much inside the prison of this curse, so I'm appreciative of your risky business sense."

"Is this another attempt at lame poetry?"

"My poetry is never lame."

The drowess swam to where he sat against the tree and folded her arms over the stone edging. "Would you like to join me for a swim?"

"Yes, I would," he honestly answered. "However, I've just washed off the grit from the road, so the idea of swimming in pond muck doesn't have much appeal for me right now."

"This pond is free of muck. You could drink out of it if you needed to."

"That's good because I'm sure the horses will find it. We will have to take care to keep the Azuralia away from it, though. It's so young it might drown if it goes in too far."

"I have the perfect name for that horse," she announced.

He smirked. "Moon-and-Star?"

"Don't be ridiculous. That would only work if it was a set of twins. _Olath Elemmiire_."

Talvalo winced slightly at the suggestion. "I don't like it. It's too big of a mouthful - especially since I don't know what it means."

Chizrae backed away to rinse her arms in the water. "It means Dark Star in my native tongue, and, personally, I don't care if you don't like it. It's my horse now, and I'll name it what I like."

"Technically, though, since we're married, it's my horse, too. "

"Only until the divorce if final, which will be any day now."

"Yes, but couldn't we reach a compromise on the name?"

"I never compromise on anything worth having."

"Well, there's always a first time for everything. How about Star Wind? What would that be in your language?"

"_Elemmiire Su'aco_," she answered, clearly not liking it.

"That's still quite a mouthful. I like it better than the first offering, though."

"Well, I don't."

"Okay, how about Dark Wind?"

"_Olath Su'aco?_ Definitely not," she disagreed again.

"Okay, now you're just being difficult." He stood and moved to the water's edge to reach for her hand. "Come look at the horse."

"I've already seen the horse. I don't need to see it again."

"Perhaps you do."

"I don't think so," she firmly protested.

"I think you do." The tall altmer grabbed the petite drow and deftly hoisted her up and over his shoulder as if she were a sack of feed.

Chizrae yelped and grasped tightly onto the back of his vest in hopes that he didn't dump her backwards on her head in the same manner. "Talvalo!"

He ignored her and took long strides to where the small herd of horses stood hunched together in the moonlight. Then, he turned his back to them so that she had full view. "Okay, take a good look at the Azuralia's face. How can you look at that face and not agree to Star Wind? Is that not the perfect name for that face?"

The drow sighed and propped her elbow against his back, resting her chin in her hand. She blinked at the horses and singled out the smallest one. "I still like Dark Star."

"You can't name it Dark Star. That's just ... stupid," he complained for lack of a nicer word. "It's star markings are white."

"Well, Star Wind is just as stupid, too. What kind of name is that? It sounds like he's going to fart or something."

Talvalo rolled his eyes. "You know, you have the manners of a goblin sometimes."

"Well, it's true," she grumped. "Star Gas, Gassy Wind, Star Wind, Wind Star -"

"Wind Star?" Talvalo turned around to face the horses himself, incidentally turning her in the opposite direction toward the house. "What's the translation for Wind Star?"

"_Su'aco Elemmiire_."

"_Su'aco … Su'aco Elemmiire. Su'aco ...,_" he practiced saying it a few times, trying to copy her accent in the right places of stress. "I like that one."

"Can you put me down now?" She drummed her fingers on her cheek.

Talvalo turned his chin toward her, but all he saw was the bottom-half of her white swimsuit and rump. "Actually, I was just beginning to enjoy the view."

Chizrae frowned and grasped his vest in clenched fists. "You're facing the wrong way to be admiring any kind of view."

"Not from where I'm standing." He carried the small dark elf toward the Skyrim mare and was tall enough to easily set her on the horse's back. "Your bottom is a pale, white moon against a velvet, indigo sky."

She grabbed the horse's mane to keep from falling off. "Excuse me?"

"Such stark contrasts. There's no in-between with you, is there? You're a person of extremes - sympathetic and generous one minute, cold and selfish the next. What's the real reason for purchasing the horses and letting me stay on here? You must be plotting something devious beneath all that benevolence."

Chizrae looked at the distance between herself and the ground with uncertainty, then chilled as the night breeze drifted over her damp skin and hair. "I'm cold. Right now the only plot I'm brewing is how to get down from here and get a towel."

Talvalo grinned. "Then, a short ride to the house to get a towel, it is."

"Ride?" She shifted in nervous discomfort.

He drew himself onto the large horse's back behind her and slid his arms under hers to pry her fingers loose from the mane. "If you pull her hair out, she won't like you. Horses are funny that way." He demonstrated the right way to keep hold of the animal without hurting it, then he tapped his heels lightly against the mare's ribs and coaxed her into a slow walk around the side of the manor home.

))((

Chizrae was embarrassed that he had seen any fear in her, but riding big animals that ran fast through wide, open spaces would take some getting used to. But as she chilled again, she forgot her embarrassment and found herself leaning back against Talvalo's warmth. After tonight, there would be only four days left to enjoy his company before he would forget her again. The thought was sobering. She didn't want to be forgotten again. If only there was a way to help him retain his memories, … to prevent the moon rage from cluttering his mind ...

When the horse came to a stop at the front door of the manor, he slid off of the mare's back and helped her down.

"I should get the cushions for Bree first, but … come with me. There's something I want you to see." She led him inside and down to the lower level. "Loki?" She gave a little whistle.

"Who's Loki?" His question was answered as a large, black wolf came out of the display room. Talvalo's eyes widened in disbelief, and he took a step back.

The drow patted the wolf and faced the altmer with a proud smile. "I'd like you to meet my new friend from Solstheim, Lorkhan. Hold out your hand."

"Why? So he can bite it off?"

"So he can see you aren't hostile."

Talvalo watched nervously as the wolf sniffed him, but after a moment, he cautiously offered his hand. After a few moments, the wolf started licking it.

"He likes you." She smirked, pleased.

"Of course he likes me. He probably thinks I'm his dinner, … or his long lost cousin twice removed from his third uncle on his mother's side." Talvalo's fingers found the charm on the silver chain around the wolf's throat and drew it within sight for a better look. "Is he controlled by magic?"

"It's a calming charm. Shazi made it for me. It keeps his instinctive impulses soothed so that Elgian and I can train him. It's much faster and safer than trying to domesticate a wild animal by normal processes."

"But keeping a wolf among people, ... among the horses …"

"As long as we keep him well-fed on nix-hound meat, and as long as that charm stays on him, he's fine. Loki's a thinker. He's smart. He's already learning to recognize friend and foe. I hope that one day we can remove the amulet, and he will be able to control his own instincts. If worse comes to worse, I have a domination charm I can use to control him. It makes him nervous, though, so I wear it only as a safeguard." She tapped the sapphire at her own throat.

Talvalo stared hard at the glowing white tooth resting on his fingertips. "Chizrae, … if this is the proof of taming you mentioned earlier, there's a big difference between an ordinary wolf and a werewolf. And I was infected by the blood of a snow wolf, which is bigger and stronger than the common breeds. They're magical, too. Their teeth can inflict frost bite deep within the wound. Since I have no memory during my transformation, I don't know what I'm capable of doing, but it's only logical that taming this little guy would be easy by comparison."

"I wanted to test it on a snow wolf first, since you said that was the type of blood that infected you. But if you have only five days, that's not enough time to return to Solstheim and head into the north mountains for one more trial." She looked from the wolf to the altmer. "It might calm the instinct enough to help you recognize friend and foe, rather than just reacting. If not for the feral instinct, you might think more rationally, … more like your normal self, … wouldn't you?"

He was quiet for a moment as he considered the possibilities. "I don't want a domination charm used on me. It's bad enough to lose control to the curse, but to be at the whim of someone else's command ..."

"It wouldn't be like that. The domination charm would only be used as a last resort - only if you lose control. I give you my word. I don't want an assassin. I want a secret bodyguard."

"You mean guard dog. Isn't one wolf enough?" He gestured to Loki.

"Do you think I value him so little?" Chizrae frowned in insult. "Once I earn Loki's trust, he will be the _only_ friend _incapable_ of plotting to betray me. I need just _one_ person who is willing to keep everyone else in check - to be my eyes and ears when they whisper behind my back, to be the dagger beneath my pillow while I sleep."

"Can't you just relax and enjoy the company of good friends?"

"A friend is more capable of betrayal than an enemy. In my world, when the stakes are high in terms of wealth and power, if you don't back up every single connection to keep the balance in your favor, you die."

Talvalo's face pinched in disbelief at what he was hearing. "Is your mind always switched on like this? Like some kind of chess game in which you have to set up multiple traps in case someone tries to check mate you?"

"It's all I've ever known!" she angrily defended her position on the matter, but then remembered to keep her voice down. "It's what brought me to this place. And with the Nerevarine prophecy and the Empire keeping tabs on me -"

"You're frightened."

She started to protest, but then lowered her gaze back to Loki.

The altmer was silent for a moment as he mulled over the implications of this conversation before speaking again. "I suppose you've got someone secretly keeping me in check, too? After all, I'm no more trustworthy than anyone else around here."

"There's no need. Jiub is already highly suspicious of you. I know you enjoy butting horns with him, but be wary of him, Talvalo. He has many connections, and he could turn into your worst nightmare if you cross him."

"By your theory, it's better to have him as an enemy than a friend. But I'm beginning to realize what the extreme paranoia is all about now. You probably don't even know what it means to have a friend - to have someone you can trust."

"All trust is foolish. _Jal khaless zhah waela. _I don't need friends. I need someone who could benefit from a mutual alliance. I will keep your secret and help you find a way to control it, if you will notify me of any secret dealings behind my back from anyone - and I mean _anyone_ - on this island. I have offered you much, and yet I ask so little in return. Do we have a deal?" She studied his disturbed expression as he debated with himself.

"I owe you for the offer of the inn's legitimate profits and the purchase of the horses. You could use the curse to blackmail me, but you haven't … yet." Talvalo made up his mind. "If you know of magic that can help me control the change, I'll be whatever you need me to be. But I will not be owned. I am nobody's slave, and I keep my own mind. No domination magic."

"No domination magic." Chizrae promised with a nod of agreement. Straightening, she entered the storeroom and grabbed a couple of small, round cushions from a crate. But when she turned around to pass them to him, he was gone. Grumbling about his unannounced disappearance and lack of aid, she picked up as many of them as she could hold in her arms and headed up the stairs. She had just made it to the top when he intercepted her.

He said nothing, but held out a towel in one hand and reached for the cushions with his other. "You said you were cold."

Chizrae accepted the trade and dried her arms before wrapping the towel around herself. "I'll get the rest."

He nodded and left through the door to the deck.

Hurrying back down the stairs, she grabbed the remaining cushions and took them to the bonfire where everyone else was gathered. Talvalo had already distributed the first armful and was already enjoying his meal.

"It's about time," Bree fussed, as she passed her a plate. "Your food was getting cold."

"To a successful road trip through the Ashlands." gro-Nob passed Talvalo the last mug of sujamma after he had poured another round for everyone else.

"To the horses' homecoming," Talvalo corrected, now that he knew Chizrae's priorities.

"But if not for you and gro-Nob, they wouldn't be here," Shazi corrected him. "To gro-Nob and Talvalo."

"Thank you, but the _General_ has already plainly stated that I'm not half the asset to this place as those horses will be." Talvalo gave a courteous bow in gratitude for Shazi's recognition before shooting a darkly amused glance back toward Chizrae.

A small smirk touched the drowess's lips, and she raised her mug with everyone else.

"Aren't you all forgetting someone?" Bodil piped up, indicating himself and receiving a few laughs and guffaws in return. "Hey, have _you _ever tried to get a horse on a flat longboat and keep it from rolling you under? Each crossing was nothing short of a miracle, my friends."

"Actually, I think we've all worked rather hard this past month. This should be a celebration of all our labors," Aria suggested.

"To Mysthaven, then," Selena suggested, looking very awkward holding her sujamma mug in a very regal manner.

"To the company that keeps the keep!" the Breton smith, Bren, added with a grin.

"Well, if we're going that far with it, let's not forget Chizrae." Elgian lifted his mug toward her.

The drow's brow lifted at the unexpected mention. "Me?"

"It was your idea to bring us here."

"It would have been stupid of me to try and run it alone. Look how big it is. Each of you played a role in helping me survive when I first came to Morrowind, and I invited you to join me here because I still value your skills. Plus, believe it or not, I've enjoyed your company at one time or other." She glanced toward Jiub with a devilish smirk. "Well, most of you, anyway."

Jiub chucked along with everyone else. "To Chizrae, her fortress, and her little army of misfits. We thank her for clearing our skies of the blight and filling our pockets with coin, ... especially when she leaves it lying around unattended."

"Ho! Sirrah!" Bodil laughed and lifted his mug high.

"Ho! Sirrah!" The magic users and fighters laughed and joined the thief's cheer.

Various other silly toasts were cried out as they ate and more drinks were passed around. The silliness of the toasts grew in proportion with the number of drinks. When everyone had eaten, Olin produced his violin. He swore upon the twin moons that he really could play it, and as the Imperial priest began a lively little tune, his wife clapped and sang along. Bodil coaxed a very reluctant Selena into dancing with him. She was so tall and elegant, and he was so short and drunk, that when the bosmer thief tried to impress the altmer mage with his _unique_ dance moves, everyone laughed, … including the altmer mage.

"You're not drinking," Chizrae noted of Talvalo's full mug over the music and laughter.

"Sujamma's a bit too strong from my taste. I prefer wine, especially wine from Summerset Isle and Cyrodiil." Setting it down with his plate, Talvalo stood. "Do you like to dance?"

Chizrae almost automatically rejected the idea, but then remembered their trip to Balmora - a trip he obviously could not recall. "Yes," she changed her mind. "But I'll warn you, I'm not good with human dances."

"Neither am I, but neither are they, and yet they're having fun with it." Talvalo grinned and accepted the drow's hand, moving with her to an open space to begin dancing to Olin's tune.

After watching the elves and orc for a few minutes, Mysti finally had pity on them and tapped Bren on the shoulder to demonstrate a few dances from the human traditions more suited to the music. Before long, the entire company was doing reels and jigs, and the music and laughter could be heard echoing across the bayou.

))((

Beyond the bayou, to someone hiding in some slough fern behind some large rocks, the frivolity of the evening activities seemed a million worlds away from what he would have expected to find at the new fortress home of Chizrae Velve'Xukuth. "And so the Nerevarine sows the seeds for the second stage of the prophecy with the establishment of a stronghold and the beginnings of her army, … perhaps even a mounted cavalry at some point in the future. Chizrae, my dear, what have you gone and done this time?" he muttered under his breath in a grim tone.

The most recent conversation he had overheard with his informants and contact in Cyrodiil replayed now in his mind.

_"The only thing that could bring that drow down flat on her back is another drow," the informant insisted._

_"Then where do we find another drow?" the point of contact asked._

_"The only other place I know of them existing is where she came from - Menzoberranzan."_

_"Menzoberranzan? How did she get from there to here anyway?"_

_"She said she came through Oblivion using a gateway between worlds," a second informant offered. "There had to be something - some enchanted item - that could act as a key to open a hole in the Outer Realms all the way through Oblivion. The dwemer were rumored to have such things. I will do some research. Such items might be created, if they cannot be found."_

_"You do that," the contact answered. "If our poser should at some point decide to attempt to fulfill the rest of the prophecy, it can only come to disaster. We should nip the possibility in the bud, ... before her face and her name become too well-known. With things in Imperial City being what they are, this could only make matters worse in the long run. Considering what we know about Chizrae Velve'Xukuth, if all drow are as short-tempered and chaotic as she is, I'm sure there is at least one dark elf in Menzoberranzan that would be willing to come to Morrowind and do us this small favor."_

_"Actually, her brother might be interested in finishing what he started," the first informant spoke again. "He has already tried to kill her once."_

_"Perfect. Find a way to Menzoberranzan. Find out where her brother is and what kind of price he might ask in return, ... if any. It's possible that we are the ones doing him a favor, instead."_

With a heavy sigh, the Blades agent knew what he had to do, and he left the slough ferns on the peninsula without pursuing his hunt any further.


	10. Chapter 10: Wolf's Blood

Chapter 10: Wolf's Blood

"Good afternoon," Arrille greeted Talvalo and Chizrae as they entered the Tradehouse in Seyda Neen. "Spoons today, Chizrae?"

"Spoons and much more." She dumped the sack on the counter and waited for him to assess it. "I'm finished cleaning out the storage crates and getting rid of the excess."

"I take it that settling into your new home is going well, then?" The altmer shopkeeper opened the sack and began to sort common items that the drow had a tendency to confiscate from any thief den, dwemer ruin, and rat nest she happened to fall into.

"I'm done unpacking. This is the last of it. Can you believe it? It took me a month, but that's including several trips away. So, I think I did pretty well for the time considered."

"And, when you're done checking her junk, could you please sort these letters into the courier box for Cyrodiil?" Talvalo passed a small handful of sealed envelopes into the other altmer's hands.

"Ah, yes, of course. Wedding invitations?"

"Not hardly. We're on our way to be divorced when we're done here," Chizrae informed him.

Arrille blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry. I didn't even realize you were married already. I thought it was a surprise engagement."

"We've decided we're better off as friends," Talvalo smoothly answered.

"Bit of a shock for your mother then, don't you think?" Arrille picked up a slip of paper from one of the courier boxes and passed it to Talvalo.

The battlemage was not expecting any messages, but as he read, his confused expression soured. "When did you get this?"

"Just this morning. I was going to send someone to deliver it to your boatman, but since you're here …"

Talvalo put the paper down and leaned forward on the counter, running his hands over his face before burying it in them with an exasperated sigh. "This can't be happening."

Curious about the obviously bad news, the drow at his side snatched the paper from the counter and read it aloud with an exaggerated flare. "'My dearest Talvalo, Aridis has informed me of your good news! I am so proud of you and anxious to meet your new wife.' Isn't that sweet? She wants to meet me." The drow cleared her throat and continued reading. "'My heart weeps, however, that you didn't tell me this news yourself. Aridis suggested that you wished to surprise me, but I haven't heard from you yet. Therefore, Ilansa and her family and I will be traveling to Morrowind to see you and welcome her into the fold. Our ship will arrive in Vivec, and then a smaller vessel will proceed to escort us into Seyda Neen on the twenty-first day of Mid Year. Aridis may join us for the trip, as well. He is undecided yet. We look forward to seeing you then. Love, Mother_.'_" The drow lifted her chin to Talvalo. "Your mother's inviting herself to visit?"

"Of course, she's inviting herself to visit." Talvalo took the letter back from her and read it again. "She's a very initiative-taking kind of person because if it were up to me, she wouldn't be invited. I warned you she would do something like this. She's bringing the whole damn family with her, too. What am I supposed to do with my entire family for however long they decide to stay?"

"They could stay at the inn."

"No, they can't. Those invitations I handed to Arrille are for other people to stay at the inn."

"Not on those dates, and you haven't even sent them yet."

He lowered his voice. "Do you realize when those dates will be? It's right after ... you know what."

"Well, as long as it's afterward, you should be okay, right?"

"No! It takes time to remember!"

"Your family was around before all that. You said things before Solstheim were easier to remember," she whispered in return. The drow's lips curled into a devious smile and she planted a hand on her hip. "You know, I think you could have fun with this."

"_Fun?_ Don't say that, especially in that tone of voice," Talvalo complained.

Arrille leaned forward interrupting their exchange. "It arrived opened like that, so that's why I thought you were planning a wedding. Sorry about the lack of privacy, but sometimes the seals get broken and ribbons get lost. By the way, Talvalo, about that inn you're operating on the old estate down the road, I was wondering if you'd like to post some advertisements here at the Tradehouse. I only have one room, and I'd like it back, quite frankly. I'd welcome a chance to recommend another place to travelers other than here. I'm simply too short on space."

"For now that inn is invitation only, but it's something to consider in the future," Chizrae answered, as the shop owner deposited her trade money into her hands.

"Well, remember there's an offer here if you need it."

"Thanks, Arrille." Chizrae pocketed the coins and headed up the stairs where she heard a minstrel playing. The one table in the common room was free since most of the evening's patrons were seated at the bar, so she pulled out a chair and sat down to order something before the trip home. "Do you want to wait on the divorce a bit longer - until after your family's visit is over?"

"What difference would it make? This is all a sham, and they're going to figure that out as soon as they get here." Talvalo sat down with her and pulled out his journal and inkwell.

"Aridis didn't think so, and he hung around for a solid week. It might get them all off of your back, you know. I don't mind playing along a bit more, if you like."

Talvalo's eyes narrowed in mild dismay. "You have absolutely no moral conscience about this, do you?"

"Not really, no. If it gives me a chance to hear more stories about lizards climbing up your shorts, I'm all for it." She looked up as the serving girl came to the table. "Scrib jerky and a beer," she ordered.

"Same, please." Talvalo held up a hand, but then put his concentration into dipping his quill in the ink and scratching more information down in his journal.

As the serving girl nodded and walked away, Chizrae leaned on the table to watch him write.

Talvalo frowned at her and defensively drew the book toward himself.

Chizrae couldn't help but laugh lightly. "What's that face for? What were you going to write that you didn't want me to see? I'm going to read it anyway when you're not looking."

"If you want to know what I'm thinking about something, then ask. Besides, this is just business. I need to update my transactions with the horses being delivered and the things I discussed with Narsean this morning. I've a list of the names of people I've invited to Mysthaven to try to draw in some outside business that I need to copy in here as well. And we need to figure out exactly where our own agreement on the inn stands."

"If we postpone the divorce for your mother's sake, then we can postpone the agreement on the inn as well."

"What my mother doesn't know won't kill her. We can divorce now and just not tell her until winter, or something."

The drow dropped her chin into her hand. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you sound very anxious to divorce me."

"No more anxious than you've been to divorce me. I'm not very keen on continuing this deception."

"Liar. You don't remember what you asked of me concerning your brother before you left, do you?" The blank look on his face was enough to cue her to continue explaining. "You asked two favors of me, and one was that I keep up the drama about you having successfully settled down, so that your brother would continue to be proud of you."

"Aridis was proud of me?" Talvalo sighed and stared across the room to where the minstrel played her lute. "Nobody in that family is proud of me. They're probably just so stunned that they want to touch you with their own hands and make sure you're not a figment of my drunken imagination."

Chizrae snickered behind the back of her hand and met his somewhat morose expression with amusement. "Oh come now. Your family can't be half as bad as mine."

Talvalo remembered what she had briefly told him in summary concerning her origins. "Well, you're probably right there."

"My mother would roll over in her grave if she knew I'd married a gold elf," the drow admitted.

"I'm too civilized, or something?" he deadpanned.

"Gold elves are the ones behind the banishment of the dark elves on my world. There was a dispute, and when we struck first against our own kind -, even though they deserved it - we were banished underground. You think _you're_ a screw-up? I'm living on the surface married to my _mortal enemy_."

The altmer accepted that bold fact with his typical mild mannerism. "Is that why you enjoy giving me such a hard time about everything?"

"No, I enjoy giving you a hard time for the hell of it. The fact that you're such a casual, but well-mannered, enemy just makes it easier."

The serving girl returned with their drinks and snacks, setting them on the table before them.

"I know now why you asked me to marry you," he returned as he folded the book to his chest to allow space on the table for his drink and to prevent anything from spilling on it. "It's because no one else would _have_ you, you know."

She picked up a strip of scrib jerky to chew on. "I know. But at least I accept you as you are. It sounds like your family doesn't. You're more worried about your mother's visit than you are about sleeping with the enemy."

"Only because we sleep in separate bedrooms."

She smirked at his continued sour mood. "It's because you're different from them. But you shouldn't have to change who you are to accommodate them."

"Well, there's a reason they think I'll never amount to anything. I can't deny my past behavior."

"But you probably did those things because you felt suffocated with them trying to mold you into something you're not. Am I right? My mother wanted me to be a priestess of Lloth - _everyone_ expected me to be a priestess of Lloth. But, that's not what I wanted for myself, so I ended up going behind their backs in order to become the person I needed to be. It would have been better for everyone involved if they had just let me follow my natural talents rather than trying to force me into something I didn't care about."

His eyes narrowed at his inability to swallow that concept. "_You_ used to be a priestess?"

She ignored the tone of doubt in his voice because she had already explained it once, and he had lost it along with his other memories about her. "You're trying to correct a few harmful habits in your life, right? The question is, are you doing it for your sake, or for theirs?" She gave his elbow a good-natured nudge. "What do you say, _pirate_? There's not much in life that I consider to be fun anymore, so let's have some fun showing them who you really are."

"But it's _not_ real. That's just it - it's a pack of lies."

"No, it's not. We just have to present the truth to them in a way that they can swallow easier. Think of it as a means of grinding food for babies that can't handle solids yet. You can let them see what they want to see, and then when they've accepted that, introduce your own spin on things as a reminder that you are not a little pot of clay to be pinched and shaped at someone else's whim. You are a unique person with your own soul, opinions, and choices to make." She grinned.

"I can see now why they wanted to kick you out of the priesthood and exile you. You're a heretic." He turned to stuff his book and inkwell back into his travel pack.

"Well, sometimes it takes a heretic to uncover the truth because the truth isn't always what we _want_ it to be. Only a blasphemer can accept an unwanted truth. That's why the Temple here had a bounty on my head a few months back as well. I know the truth about what happened at Red Mountain. It's why the Empire watches me. I know the truth about how they schemed to take advantage of people who believe in an age-old prophecy. And they both know that I will not change who I am to accommodate them."

"This isn't the Empire. It's my family."

"Same difference. Your truth is hard to handle, Talvalo. That's why we will break it to them gently, as opposed to declaring war." She lifted her mug to take a drink of her beer and then smiled again, pleased with her little plan.

"What?" Her plan was so twisted he almost couldn't even follow it.

"The legal stuff between us has waited this long; it can wait a little longer. We have four days left to set up things so that your transition back into Mysthaven can run smoothly as possible. So, tell me what I need to know to prepare for this visit. To start with, what does your mother think of dark elves? I take it from something your brother said that she doesn't favor us?"

His nose twitched, but then he gave in to her conspiracy. "She thinks you're primitive heathens, but she has a tendency to pity you more than despise you."

"Hmph," she snorted. "Does your sister have children?"

Talvalo pulled his drink closer to himself and blinked at her with suspicion. "I don't know if I like this agreeable side of you, Chizrae. It's rather scary."

The drow laughed lightly and took another bite of her scrib jerky. "I thought you admired things that frightened most people. Are you chickening out on me?"

Talvalo shook his head at her reminder of his own words from the night before. "All right then, Ilansa has four children, so if you wish to impress them -"

"Four?" The drow's mischievous and confident expression drooped.

"No, no. Don't give me that look." He pointed an accusing finger at her. "You're not allowed to change your mind after spending all that effort to talk me into it."

"_Four?_" That was a lot of children to suddenly have running around her home, considering she'd never been around children at all. Chizrae wondered what she'd cornered herself into, but she couldn't admit that to him now.

))((

The following afternoon, Chizrae backed out of the door leading to the deck and carefully set two bowls of steaming broth on the round table in front of Talvalo. Without a word, she went back inside for a moment, and the altmer closed his journal and dropped his quill in his inkwell. Leaning over the broth, he gave it a sniff and tried to identify the things floating in it. When the drowess returned, she set a plate of sliced bread and apples on the table and dropped a spoon into each of the bowls, before seating herself in the chair beside him. "Do you have your business all rounded up yet?" she asked, glancing toward the ever-present book in his hands.

"Yes, actually. I was just beginning to move into recording other things."

"What kind of other things?"

"Memory things." He lifted the spoon and poked at one of the white things floating in the broth. "What's this?"

"Onion soup," she proudly announced.

Though he had walked in on the cookbook conversation between her and Jiub when they first met, the memory of it was lost to him now. "Just onions?" He lifted the white item in the spoon and studied it with a questioning expression.

"Well, no, that's squid."

"Squid?" He lowered it back into the bowl and looked to her. "Why would you call it onion soup if there's squid in it?"

"It started off as onion soup and I changed my mind."

"Of _course_ you did. I should have known," he muttered as he tried to count the number of squid pieces in it.

The drowess gave him a flat expression for the comment. "You haven't even tasted it yet."

"It's squid," he protested.

"I warned you that I liked raw foods and sea foods when we were camping in Molag Amur."

"Well, I don't remember it, and it's ... _squid_. Since when do elves eat squid?"

Her brows drew together. "Just try it."

Talvalo sighed and let his spoon fill with some of the broth. Then, seeing that she was still glaring at him, he gave it a fair taste. To his surprise, it had a nice savory flavor. "You know, ... this is actually quite good."

"Apology accepted. By the way, I went shopping this morning in Balmora for the gift items you mentioned. I got the toys for the children. I got the perfume for your sister. And I got the rare book on constellations for Aridis, in case he comes. I still need suggestions for your brother-in-law and mother."

"Good luck with that," he droned. "They're impossible to buy gifts for. She will never actually use anything you give her, and he has no personality."

"Oh. Guess it runs in the family," she mumbled under her breath, thinking of Aridis.

"You have to serve this when my mother comes." He smirked as he ate more of the soup.

Chizrae was cautious of that recommendation. "Why?"

"Because it's _squid_," he chuckled. "That's just brilliant. Don't tell her what it is until after she's eaten it, though. That's part of the fun."

Chizrae frowned slightly and quirked a brow. "Shall I serve her lizard on a stick as well, or would that be too tempting for you to wear it?"

He looked up and cringed even more noticeably than with the squid. "You eat lizard, too?"

The drow shook her head. "Nevermind. You're lucky I'm able to admit that I don't know much about how to cook foods in this world, or I'd be highly insulted." She ate a few spoonfuls of her new concoction, when her attention returned to the book. "You're recording what we say this time, so I don't have to repeat myself again about what I am and where I came from, right?"

"I'm trying to write down what we do as well, so that I can remember you better."

"That's what you said last time." Chizrae reached for a slice of bread to dip into her broth.

The back door opened and Shazi came out, pressing a long strand of stray brown hair out of her face. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you. It's finally ready." She passed a small charm, identical to the charm that Loki wore around his neck, into the drow's hand. "I increased the magical strength just like you requested, but I really must protest this idea of having a second wolf around the house. The first one makes me nervous enough."

"You don't trust your own charms?" Chizrae asked of the Imperial enchantress.

"I trust the charm. It's the accidental loss of the charm that makes me nervous."

"Loki hasn't done anything to accidentally lose or destroy the charm. I've removed it a couple of times, and both times he seemed at ease with me; but he's not ready to go without it yet. He chases the horses, so I'll need to break him of that first. I think he likes living here, except for the heat. He swims in the pond and sleeps on the lower level to stay cool, though, and summer will soon pass."

"And if you bring home a snow wolf, won't that creature be miserable in this heat, too?"

"I don't plan on bringing home any new wolves, Shazi. But your charm worked so well on Loki, that I might be able to make use of it on other creatures. I just need to test its strengths and limitations first."

Talvalo ate his soup in silence, allowing Chizrae to weave whatever excuse she needed for the creation of a second calming charm - for him.

"Well, ..." The Imperial woman looked uncomfortable with the idea all the same. "Do be careful. Those charms are no good if they come off or can't be put on properly."

"You look tired, Shazi. I know you've worked long hours on this special project for me to have it done by the time I requested. Thank you."

Shazi nodded in gratitude of the drow's rare compliment on her craftsmanship and effort. Then, she leaned over Talvalo's shoulder. "What's for lunch?"

"Squid soup," he answered.

Shazi blinked without expression and then slowly smiled. "Ah. Well. Enjoy your meal." She gave his shoulder a pat and then turned and left before they could invite her to join them.

Talvalo chuckled to himself. "Did you see that? That's the expression I want to see on Mother's face when you cook for her."

Chizrae gave his arm a short punch for insulting her cooking, then draped the charm over his head in further punishment. "Just for that, I'm going to hire a cook so that everything will be perfect, and your mother will want to stay forever."

"Woah, woah, woah ..." He pulled the charm off and set it on the table. "Let's not go that far with it."

Chizrae scooped the charm into her palm and deposited it in her pocket. "Shut up and eat your squid."

"Yum." He answered, sipping another spoonful of broth.

))((

The following morning, Talvalo walked into the master bedroom to find Chizrae slumbering soundly on her bed way past sunrise. With the summer heat and the morning breeze drifting through the open window, she looked so peaceful and relaxed in her thin jade-colored gown. Sympathizing with her for a second, but then shaking his head, he walked to the bed and crouched eye-level with her face, resting his arms on the edge of the bed. "Rise and shine."

One crimson eye opened in a fine slit, then closed again as the drow turned her head away from him.

"I feel your pain, Chiz. Really I do. No one enjoys sleeping in more than me. But you've got horses to care for now."

"_Alu tarthe. Usstan tlun naut wun l'mudzu ulu shoberu zaphodiop shu quin._" She reached behind her head and grasped a pillow. Setting it in his face, she gave a light push.

He looked at the pillow as it dropped onto his arms, but he didn't budge. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

The drowess sighed and sat up, swinging her feet to the side of the bed. "I said, 'Go away. I'm not in the mood to shovel horse shit yet,'" she groused.

"Oh. Well, the horses don't really care."

"_Drill Usstan ssinssrin ulu v'dri wun fridj natha lotha nagara_," she complained.

"Hm. I almost caught it that time, but, sorry, slurred drowish is completely unintelligible to me."

"_Mal'ai,_" she frowned.

"Okay, _that_ sounded like an insult. However, I'll try not to hold it against you."

The dark elf gave the gold elf a small snarl, tucked her dropped pillow under her arm, and stood. She drowsily walked to her dresser and opened her jewelry box to fish inside of it for a moment. Then, she paused and frowned.

"You don't need jewelry. For gods' sake, just throw on a pair of mud pants and a shirt. Come outside naked, if you wish. I won't complain. Just ... before lunch would be nice, okay? I'll be waiting at the shed." He shrugged and headed for the stairs.

Chizrae scowled at him and gave the pillow a toss to the back of his head. "I was going to give you the translator amulet I brought with me from Menzoberranzan. It has two spells on it for reading and speaking languages unknown to the wearer. I thought it might be interesting for your brother to hear you conversing in an utterly foreign language. And it would give us a means of communicating without anyone else understanding what we're saying - something handy at any given time. I'd teach you drow sign language, but there isn't time and it's rather intricate. It's a way of communicating when you don't want to be overheard."

Talvalo turned to pick up the pillow and crossed the rug to join her at the dresser. "So, that's how you managed to learn how to speak so quickly in a new world - a language amulet. Bit of a cheat, but still impressive."

"But it's gone," she complained.

"Maybe you just misplaced it."

"No. I've spent an entire month getting this house the way I want it, and it's just now occurred to me that I haven't seen my translator amulet at all since the move." Puzzled, she shifted things around in the jewelry box once more. "I've always depended on that amulet when going to new places."

He watched her fret over the missing item for a moment, then moved closer and folded his arms over the pillow at his chest as he stood behind her. "Well, it's not like you need it anymore. Right? I mean, you don't need to go to any more places, do you?"

Unhappy at the loss of the item, Chizrae considered his suggestion for a moment, and then looked around at her home once more. A reluctant smile came to her lips in mild embarrassment. "I suppose your right. Maybe it was just overlooked and it's back at the shrine outside of Vivec. I'll go look for it the next time I'm out that way."

Talvalo nodded and smiled. "Meet you downstairs."

As he left the room, though, she looked back to her jewelry box, still puzzled.

))((

The day before the full moon, Talvalo spent his time finishing up any last minute preparations with Narsean concerning inn reservations and the arrival of his family. He helped Selena select which potions to have on display at the inn, and he finished teaching Chizrae the basics in daily care for her horses, as well as giving a few basic riding lessons.

After her riding lessons, Chizrae spent her time in brutal training sessions with Elgian and a practice staff. She arranged for Selena and Bodil to be the ones to meet the family upon their arrival in Seyda Neen and escort them to Mysthaven. Then, she gave Mysti instructions on the presentation of the gifts and how she wanted the house to be kept, just in case they were late for their return.

))((

On the day of the full moon, Chizrae and Talvalo packed their bags and announced they were leaving for a week in Solstheim - supposedly to test the new charm on a snow wolf. Instead of taking the Realmsfade book to Khuul and catching a boat heading north, however, they took the Vos book and headed east across the scattered islands off the coast of Vvardenfell. They both used water walking spells to help them quickly and safely reach their final destination - an abandoned thieves' cavern on a small, deserted island.

Unlocking the door, Talvalo reluctantly led Chizrae down into his lair. "Well, it's not the honeymoon I was hoping for, but … here it is. The tunnel is dark, but I've got lanterns down at the bottom," he apologized as he felt along the cold, damp wall and followed it to the bottom of the stairs.

"I can see in the dark," she reminded him, though he had obviously forgotten.

"Natural night eye ability?"

"No. It's not the same. My eyes convert heat patterns into colors."

"Really?" Talvalo stopped at the bottom of the tunnel and turned to face her with fascination. "What color am I?"

Chizrae couldn't help but smile lightly at the innocent question. "Well, your heart and your head glow white."

"Major centers of activity and heat," he guessed. "Like a fire, the hottest temperature is white."

"Easily marked vital areas if you have to hunt in the dark," she added. "The rest of your chest, back, and throat are orange and red."

"Major vein locations. Still a lot of sanguine activity going on in those areas," he reasoned.

She nodded in agreement. "Your limbs and hair are cooler, but still warm - red, violet, and indigo. Only the length of your hair tied back is black - completely void of heat. And yet, I can see its outline because the heat that our bodies radiate gives a soft glow to our immediate surroundings."

Talvalo looked down at his hands in the darkness and saw only his hands. After a moment of wonder, he gave up on being able to see the same light spectrum that she did. He smiled at her unusual talent, reached for a lantern, and lit it with a small fire spell.

Chizrae seemed to feel a chill at the sight of it. There was a fire pit in the center of the dead end tunnel. A large slave cage sat at the back of the tunnel - door temporarily left ajar. A crate that held an assortment of preserved foods sat to one side of it. A stack of books were placed on the other side, near a dingy bedroll.

"Creepy, I know," he commented with a sigh. "But it's functional."

"It's not creepy. It's sad." She walked into the center of the cavern and looked toward the slave cage. "So, explain how this works. How do you lock yourself in and yet manage to release yourself once more?"

Talvalo set down the lantern and lifted the large key ring from near the bedroll. "Well, I try to come down here before the change begins at moonrise. I've left instructions for myself inside the top journal, so that I will know what to do when I return to normal. I eat to fill my stomach because the hunger pains during the transformation are terrible. I don't know if it actually helps lessen the desire to hunt and kill fresh prey, but I figure it can't hurt. Then, I make sure the outside door is locked, and I enter the cage." He stepped into the cage and reached and arm through the bars to demonstrate how he was used to locking it. "Once I'm in, I make sure the key is beyond reach." He gave the key ring a toss to the other side of the cavern. His hands grasped the bars and he put his face between them. "And then I wait. Masser is the moon that will become my master. After dark, when it becomes full and red, it triggers the wolf blood in my veins. It starts in my heart and head, and then moves into my muscles and bones. It's very painful, so when when the pain becomes too great, I black out. Three days pass before a full moon begins to wane, and that's how I know how long I am locked into the wolf form, judging by my journal entries."

Chizrae approached the cage and gripped the bars just below his hands, her face inches away from his. "And then what happens?"

"I don't know."

"What usually happens when it's over?"

"When I awaken, anything I carried with me is usually either torn or gone, if I don't remember to remove it before I step into the cage. I'm hungry and dehydrated because I will have not eaten during those three days. But the hardest part is that I can't remember who I am, or why I'm here. I eventually remember everything that happened before my first transformation in Solstheim, and once I know who I am, I remember that I can do magic. Then I can cast a telekenisis spell on the key to bring it back to me." He uttered a few simple words of magic and drew the key from across the room into his hand once more in demonstration. After that, he unlocked the door and Chizrae backed away, allowing him to walk out on his own. "I can then read my journals and find out why I'm here, ... and realize the truth once more about what I've become." He dropped the keys onto the bedroll.

"The only problem is that as time continues to wear on, it takes longer to read all the journals," he added. "The more that I write, the harder it is to remember everything just by reading about it. Sometimes reading something will trigger the actual memories, and they will come back to my mind the way they should. But not always. So, I usually stack my current journal near the top, to read it first and learn what I was doing before I changed." He dug his journal out of his backpack and placed it just below the top book of the stack, so it would be ready. "Then, I try to pick up the pieces from there." He sighed as he came to a stand beside her. "Needless to say, it makes trying to live a normal life somewhat difficult."

Chizrae nodded in understanding. "Then that is what we want to achieve for you - a more normal life." Turning her back on him, she dropped her backpack and removed some items from it, putting a stash of fresh bear and hound meat in the empty crate on the other side of the cage. Then, she checked the fire pit and lit it with her own fire magic before placing the grill over it and laying two hound steaks across it. "First, we should address this hunger issue you mentioned. Describe it to me."

Talvalo sighed as if there were no words to describe that kind of hunger. "It burns."

"In your stomach?"

"Every inch of me. It consumes me."

The drow sat back on her heels. "It sounds a bit like what my vampire friend called the Thirst, and what we drow know as Bloodlust."

He moved to sit next to her, cross-legged on the granite floor. "Bloodlust?"

"It's when the desire for blood becomes so strong that it burns the soul. Vampires experience it when they need fresh blood. Drow experience it when they go on killing sprees."

His brows drew together, unsure he heard right. "Killing sprees? Your race feeds on blood?"

"No." Chizrae paused, not wanting to correct his assumption. As horrible as his assumption was, correcting it meant having to explain the truth. "Not in a literal sense," she weakly offered.

"I don't understand."

The drowess sighed. "You know how I told you that I was exiled, and that my brother tried to kill me because I was accused of a crime I did not commit?" She turned her eyes to the fire. "I was being truthful. I did not commit that crime. ... But there were others."

Talvalo wasn't sure what she meant, but he knew it couldn't be good, judging by her expression and tone. "Other crimes?"

"Raids."

"Killing sprees?"

The drowess slowly, shamefully nodded. "My people hate the races of the surface world so much for what they did to us. Our ancestors used to live among the trees under the sun like other elves, but the other elves formed an alliance against them and banished them to live in the deepest, most barren regions of the Underdark. Their goddess Lloth the Spider Queen, ... she saved them from dying down there. She colored their skins, so they could hide in the darkness from predators that lurk in the wilds. She gave them special vision to help them hunt their prey. She led them to caverns with water and helped them find safe places to rebuild their homes. All she asked in return ... was revenge."

"So, drow kill people for this goddess?" Talvalo couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"The night that I was exiled, I was in command of a ritual raid called the Blooding. It's when a priestess of Lloth leads young drow warriors through the wilds of the Underdark all the way up to the surface to make the blood of the _darthiir_ and the _rivven_ flow. The Blooding is to be done in the night, under stealth, so that none could escape. None were to be forgiven." Chizrae could barely continue the confession. She dare not meet his gaze while her voice softened, as if in monotone recital. "If it was a village of humans, ... it was good. If it was a village of elves, ... it was better. If it was a village of high elves ..."

"You took a unit of armed dark elves out to slaughter an entire village?" Talvalo angered. "In their sleep? Not even vampires and werewolves attack in mass slaughter like that. Why would you even consider it?"

"To prove to them that we are not yet defeated, ... to remind them that the drow will someday return to the surface and conquer them all, ... to show the young what it means to have power, ... to seek revenge in the name of Lloth," she firmly recited what she had once been taught to believe.

"I'm sorry to hear that your people were banished, but shedding innocent blood will not erase someone else's sins," he adamantly argued.

She closed her eyes, accepting his anger for all those who had fallen at her feet. "I know."

"That's insane. It's heartless and -"

"I know what it is, Talvalo!" she snapped, finally lifting her chin and locking onto his eyes. "_I know what it is_," she hissed in a menacing tone. "It's the worship of an insane goddess combined with indoctrination on how to hate. It produces a lust for the destruction of your enemies that burns the blood so deep that it burns the soul! I know what Bloodlust is. But the drow who did those things so long ago, ... that is no longer who I am." She paused. "Back then, it was all I knew. But then they betrayed me and left me for dead. I've learned much since then, but some things will never change for me. At least you are free from your memories. You call it a curse, but to me it would be a blessing to forget."

After a moment of trying to reconcile himself to this new knowledge about her, Talvalo sighed heavily. Then, scooting closer, he drew her into his arms. For once he couldn't think of anything to say. The burden was too heavy for words. After a long moment, he looked down at her silver hair and raven shoulders and placed a hand on her head to coax her to relax against him. "We both deserve to have stakes driven through our hearts, don't we."

"There is nothing we can do to change the past. We can only change our current course," she softly corrected.

"So, you changed your course by running away, curing a vampire, killing Dagoth Ur, ... and now you're coping with me. I suppose you've saved more lives than you took, when you look at it that way."

"You make it sound noble, but my motives are selfish. I always expect something in return."

"Like asking me to spy on your friends and protect you from them if they turn against you - to be your secret bloodhound."

The drowess pulled away to check the steaks and removed them from the fire. Putting them onto two pewter plates she had brought along, she pushed one of them toward him. "You should eat now, before the Bloodlust kicks in." She found the cutlery in her bag and passed that to him, as well.

Talvalo sliced into the medium-rare steak and watched the bloody juices pool into the plate beneath it. Blood was blood, but this was an animal and he felt no guilt about eating it, compared to the knowledge of what he could do to a person. Then, he looked back up at her with confusion. "How did you keep the vampire from feeling Bloodlust?"

"I hunted fresh rats to prevent him from being tempted to kill one of our other companions. And when that wasn't enough, I let him drink my blood."

"And yet you were not changed into a vampire as well?"

"There must be a death to become undead, but because we took precautions to prevent him from starving, he never took more than I was willing to spare."

He took a bite of his steak and wondered how that must have been for the vampire, always within range of temptation, but never able to completely satisfy his hunger. "You must have cared very deeply for him to take such a risk."

The drow shrugged. "Khyron was ... a good friend. I enjoyed his company, but I have learned not to care too deeply. After all, the last time I cared for someone, my mother cut out his heart."

He watched the flames in the fire pit for a moment, then looked back to her again. "You said that I asked two favors of you last time. One involved my brother. What was the other?"

She was hesitant. "A kiss to remember me by."

He nodded in understanding now. "Guess that explains why you were angry that I remembered the horses better."

She gave him a small smile and shook her head. "You were right to allow it to be forgotten. I am drow, Talvalo. Now that you know what that means, it would be better for you to forget again."

"I don't want to forget again." Talvalo pushed his plate aside and leaned closer, pressing one hand to the cold, granite floor, while lifting the other to touch her warm cheek. "In my world, you are just another dark elf, ... nothing more."

"Then you are denying who I am."

He slowly shook his head in disagreement. "I'm acknowledging who you want to be. Because that's what you're trying to do for me."

Chizrae placed her hand over his. Then, she rose on her knees just enough to kiss him. Her lips were so soft, he couldn't help wanting to kiss them a second time, ... and a third. As he slipped his fingers into her hair, she drew him closer into her embrace.

A fog lifted from Talvalo's mind, and he began to remember details in reverse - everything, all the way back to Caldera. Grateful to have his memories back, however briefly, Talvalo tried hard once more to mentally capture details about how this new kiss felt. Her touch, her taste, her scent ...

The gold elf's eyes opened in startling realization. Her scent! His senses were becoming sharper by the minute. His throat began to feel dry until it burned. "Chizrae ..." He grasped her shoulders, pushing her away at arms' length.

Chizrae had lost herself in the kiss so that she didn't notice the changes taking place, but the instant she looked into his eyes, she knew what was happening.

Normally pale green, his irises had become streaked with yellow, and his pupils had changed shape. His canine teeth had started to extend on both upper and bottom jaws, making him resemble a vampire. "I have to get in the cage. The moon's rising." He pulled away from her and jerked his shirt off over his head, casting it to the floor before snatching up the key ring and heading toward the cage door.

"No! Not yet."

"I have to!"

"If you lock yourself in the cage, I won't be able to put the charm on you."

"Give me the charm, then!" he urgently ordered and held out his hand.

"No! I need to see what happens before we try to use the charm."

"Then I have to get in the cage!"

"No!" The drow stepped between him and the cage door and spread her arms. "Talvalo, you don't know what you're like in this form! We need to know what it is that we're trying to change, and then I need to be able to place the charm on you."

The gold elf began to panic for her safety as his skin began to itch and burn. His heartbeat began to quicken as the burning grew within it. In frustration, he turned away from her and ran toward the tunnel exit.

"Talvalo!" Determined to keep him within his confines, she raced after him and pulled him back before leaping in front of him to shut the outside door. Then, she snatched the key ring from him and locked it.

"What the hell are you doing? If you're not going to let me in the cage, I have to get away from you!"

Chizrae slipped her arm through the keyring and pushed it up around her bicep to secure it. "Does the hunger burn?"

"Yes!"

"Then go eat the damned steak!" She pointed back down to the bottom of the tunnel.

Completely miserable in his state of transition, Talvalo turned away from her in anger and ran back down the tunnel toward the cage again, but this time, he dropped to one knee as the burn reached into his skull and down his spine. He crossed his arms over his bare chest in attempt to ease the burn within his lungs as his breathing became pained and irregular. His nails began to extend into claws. Muscle and bone began to swell and realign itself beneath his skin, dislocating and relocating as if he were being subjected to some kind of cruel, invisible vivisection experiment.

))((

The drowess came to stand behind him and witness the horrible changes taking shape.

"Chizrae, please ... Leave while you can," he panted through the pain as his voice began to change, sounding hoarser, deeper.

Instead of taking his advice and leaving, though, she drew her staff from the floor near her backpack and readied it cautiously, defensively before her. Standing firm at a safe distance, she continued to watch.

He tried to plea with her one last time to get out of the cavern, but his words were no longer words. He groaned and growled in agony as his body continued shifting from one state of being into another. His golden skin broke into a heavy sweat and fur began to emerge - snow white. His elven ears remained sharp-tipped, but curled and realigned along with his jaw bones and nose until his face became like that of a dog. As his hips and legs shifted form, the pants that no longer fit his beast form tore and split at the seams until he finally grasped them and ripped them off, throwing them to the ground. Finally, his long, red hair formed a thick mane about his shoulders and neck. The golden clasp that normally held it out of his face, dropped with a small _clink_ to the floor.

The drow waited for him to black out and fall to the floor, but he didn't. He stood still for a moment, as if waiting for the weakness left in the wake of the pain to pass. Then, she heard a low guttural growl come from deep within his chest. The werewolf turned its snow-white head to bare its teeth at her with a snarl, and she knew beyond a doubt that Talvalo was gone.


	11. Chapter 11: Hunting Moon

Chapter 11: Hunting Moon

The large, white werewolf sprang toward the small, dark elf. Chizrae raised her staff to block, but instead of pushing him back, she was thrown off balance. She knew to expect more strength from him than either Loki or Elgian, but she wasn't prepared for how _much_ more. She also underestimated his speed and intelligence. Before she could secure her footing to swing the staff at him in a counterattack, the werewolf grasped it in the center and wrenched it from her hands to return her intentions. The drow gasped in surprise and ducked, just barely missing what could have been a fatal blow - fatal because of the unconscious state the staff's magic would have left her in.

"Talvalo!" She scurried to escape the staff's reach. "Talvalo, I know you're in there somewhere! Please stop and think! You wouldn't choose to do this!"

The werewolf advanced in a blur of motion, swinging the staff toward her head, but the drow dodged again by falling to the floor and rolling. Scrambling back to her feet, she did the only other thing she could do - she ran. Whipping the staff across the room, against the side of the cage, he bounded toward her again.

In speed and agility, they were evenly matched. For Chizrae, this meant avoiding being cornered in the small cavern while zig-zagging to stay out of reach. Finally, in desperation, she stopped dodging and concentrated on casting a chameleon spell. The few seconds that it took her to weave the magic, however, cost her dearly. Powerful claws dug into the front of her chest at the base of her throat and raked downwards in an equally powerful attempt to rip open a mortal wound. Then, the drow faded into her surroundings becoming indistinguishable from them, and his momentary confusion was enough for her to pull free and escape.

The werewolf could not see the drow any longer, but with his keen sense of smell honed to the scent of her blood, he was still able to locate her exact presence. He caught her again, this time by the arm, and jerked back with a hard twist, dislocating the shoulder he had previously wounded.

Chizrae cried out at the agonizing pain, but somehow forced her arm up enough to block the teeth snapping at her throat. The vicious bite to her forearm filled with magical frost, freezing muscle and bone. Her left arm, now effectively paralyzed as well as severely injured, was rendered useless. Frantic to escape, the drow spoke more arcane words and flames lit her other hand. Burning past the fur to the flesh underneath, she forced him to release her.

Knowing she was no match for him in hand-to-hand combat, she ran to the only safe place she could reach in time - the cage. Once she was inside of it, she slammed the door shut and removed the key ring from her injured arm to lock it. He followed the invisible elf's scent again, but at least the bars limited his reach this time.

"Talvalo, listen to me! Killing me will not satisfy the hunger! There's steak behind you on the floor! There's fresh bear meat in the crate! You've got to eat something else besides me!" she yelled, trying to reach the intelligent man trapped beneath the voracious beast. To her surprise, the werewolf paused and looked over his shoulder toward the crate of bear meat.

It turned on her a second later, growling and snapping at her through the bars, but then looked back to the crate, as if undecided. The insatiable hunger finally outweighed the desire to hunt, and the werewolf left the trapped dark elf to dig chunks of bear flesh from the crate.

Chizrae sighed nervously at her close call as her chameleon spell began to fade, leaving her visible once more. She was still alive, but it wasn't over yet. Three days of this ... _Three days! _The drowess was beginning to believe she had finally trapped herself into a fatal mistake, when her eyes lowered to the floor and spotted the discarded staff. It was close, but was it close enough? Keeping a careful eye on the werewolf, she crept close to the bars of the cage and stretched her good arm through them until her fingertips could touch the staff. But as she raked it toward her, so that she could get a solid grip on it, the scraping sound of the staff on the floor alerted the werewolf to what she was doing. The drow jerked her good arm back through the bars to safety before he could injure it as well.

The werewolf picked up the staff, turned it on end, and rammed it through the cage toward her. She was agile enough to dodge the strike and avoid its magic, but when that didn't work, he rammed it between the bars on the door of the cage and began to push against it.

Terrified that the beast's use of the man's intellect would succeed in creating a useful lever, the drow lunged forward to dislodge it."Talvalo, stop! You're going to break it!"

The beast snapped through the bars at her once more, and released one hand to grab her arm instead.

His claws tore open her arm, but that staff was her only hope. The drow looked inward to find another spell before it was too late. Lightening jolted from her fingertips into the beast. But he apparently had no intentions of giving up the fight either. The lightning attack only made him roar with rage and push more forcefully toward his objective. The bars of the cage looked as if they were ready to bend under such brute strength, but the staff suddenly splintered in half. Chizrae jerked her half of the staff away from the door and stared at it in panicked disbelief. The magical glow within it dimmed and faded away, but the end that the werewolf held still glowed. His half had the enchanted soul gem.

The beast stared at his broken half of the staff for a moment noting for the first time how it shimmered with magic. Then, his ears flattened with a low, steady growl, and he faced her with a wicked snarl baring razor-sharp teeth. He had figured out its enhanced destructive nature.

"Talvalo." She tried to speak rationally in spite of her fear. "I know that you hear and understand me when I speak to you. Please give me the staff. If you could act beyond this Bloodlust and think about what you're doing, you'd give me the staff."

The werewolf snarled and thrust the staff between the bars in attempt to strike her with whatever magic it held. She shrieked and jumped back to the rear of the cage.

Chizrae knew that if this battle dragged on, the werewolf would eventually win it. So, in a daring, and perhaps stupid, attempt to get the other half of the staff back, she cast a spell of invisibility on herself. The spell would be lost as soon as she took any offensive action, but until then it would cloak her scent. As soon as she disappeared again, the beast sniffed the air with suspicion. Slowly, carefully, the drow crept toward him, locking her eyes on the broken staff in his hand. _Forgive me, Talvalo ..._

Gritting her teeth against the distasteful emotion rising in her throat, the drow rammed her half of the splintered staff up under the werewolf's chin as hard as she could. She was immediately visible and completely within reach, but the beast had no choice but to drop his half of the staff to pull the other from his throat. Chizrae reached through the bars and clutched the coveted item, drawing it securely to herself. She had finally won, ... but just barely. Frightened and unsure of what to do next, she looked to the werewolf. Blood flowed freely from his throat and mouth as he tried to free himself from the stake, and his rage gave way to hollow choking. He was going to die.

Trembling, she looked down at her dislocated arm, which had lost its natural black luster and faded to a deathlike shade of frostbitten blue. Both arms and hands were streaked with crimson rivulets, and the holes he dug into her shoulder and chest had bled through her shirt. Though he had not been as frightening as an illithid or an ascended sleeper, it was one of the most terrifying fights the drow had been in, in a long time. If she had not punctured his throat, she would have been mangled, ripped apart, chewed. She consoled herself with this thought, trying not to think about the man beneath the monster as she watched the werewolf stagger and struggle for his last breaths.

Chizrae removed the key ring from her frosted arm, unlocked the door to the cage, and cautiously stepped out to stand over the dying beast as he fell. Was it better to save him, or end the curse by letting his soul rest? Was she more afraid of allowing him to live, or losing him? She was almost sure which one Talvalo would have chosen, … if he could have. Sighing with heavy emotion, she knelt beside the werewolf's body and drew the calming charm from her pocket. She struggled with her one usable hand to place it over his head and secure it around his shoulders. Then, she dragged him into the cage. Whispering a healing dwoemer, she touched a hand to his throat, repairing the damage she had done to his trachea beneath the blood-stained, white fur. Then, leaning over him, she closed her eyes, gave the side of his head a small kiss before leaving and locking the cage behind her.

On the outside of the cage, Chizrae cast a healing spell over her shoulder and arm to regain use of it. The tattered skin elsewhere would have to wait. If he somehow broke free, there was no telling how much more magic she would need to spend to survive another fight. Clutching the remaining half of the magical staff, she backed away to the fire pit and crouched to warm her chill and calm her nerves, while she waited to see what would happen next.

After a long moment, the werewolf stirred. It tried to lick its own wounds at first, but then gave up and licked the blood from its hands, instead. Then, it rose and approached the door of the cage. It looked down at the lock and gave the door a weak tug, but then looked to her again.

Chizrae could tell he was aware of what had passed, but without being able to speak, she couldn't be certain how deep that understanding was. "Talvalo, … does the hunger still burn?"

The werewolf's eyes seemed to draw into a look of concern and apology as it licked its lips, whimpered, and tried to shake the lock from the door once more.

The drowess sighed to herself and stood. She collected the two barely-touched steaks that she had cooked prior to the transformation and came close enough to toss them between the bars of the cage to the floor. "Enjoy your meal," she told him in a tired, discouraged voice.

The werewolf bent to sniff them and cautiously began to eat.

"Now what?" Her eyes shifted to the bedroll. Heavily fatigued, she wished she could call it a night, but she dare not - not yet at least. Moving toward the bedroll, she stared down at the stack of books and lifted the one off the top. Sitting down, she flipped back a few pages, curious to read what he had previously written.

He had recorded their reunion at the ranch, his journey through the Ashlands with gro-Nob, and his homecoming with the horses. This time, he included elements of their conversation the night of his return, including her description of the moon garden and their argument over naming the Azuralia. He had recorded her offer to hold off on the divorce and the unexpected visit from his family. She smirked at his comments regarding her horseback riding lessons, but was touched by his short descriptive of what he had learned about her background prior to coming to the cavern. Then, she came to his last entry before bringing her to the cavern.

_"I think I did not record these kinds of things before,"_ he wrote, _"because though I said I wanted to remember, what I really wanted was an excuse to forget. Acquiring friendships for only two weeks at a time ... What's the point of trying to hold onto something that slips through my fingers so easily? It will always end in tragedy just as I'm beginning to enjoy it. But maybe not this time. Chizrae has offered me many valuable things in exchange for some promise of security from me. (Security seems to be her most treasured item in the world. She values it even more than her dragon-stash of money. But I suppose she thinks that buying trust is the only way to gain it. ) What she has offered me beyond that is the true, priceless treasure - a chance to have some consistency in my life for the first time since being infected with the curse. She is probably my last hope. She will kill the wolf, … or the wolf will kill her. But if anything happens to her because of this experiment, … I swear on my father's grave it will be the wolf's final moon._

_By the way, I know you're reading this. So, first of all, shame on you! ... But perhaps this time, you will believe me when I tell you that I want to remember."_

The drowess smiled to herself at his precognitive scolding, but realized he missed the chance to record anything they talked about directly prior to his change. He would not remember her explanation of the Bloodlust, or realize that he was capable of understanding her or using tools when in werewolf form. Reaching into his back pack, she drew out his writing tools. Then, leaning back against the rock wall, she began to record an account of all that had happened. When she finished filling in as much detail as she could about what she had observed, she paused with one more realization. He would not remember her confession about the rites of the Blooding, either. Should she add it? Or let him forget?

She looked back to the whimpering animal in the cage, as if expecting him to somehow give her the answer, but was stunned to see that the werewolf was gone. In his place, an ordinary, four-legged snow wolf sat by the door and pawed at the lock. If not for the red fluff on his shoulders, he could have even passed for a natural animal. Chizrae rose to her feet and approached the cage with caution. "Talvalo?" He whined and wagged his tail as if he were nothing more than a large dog, but after what had happened, even in this form, she could not bring herself to trust him. Crouching before him, she looked deep into his eyes. His irises were green once more. "Two wolves … Is that your doing, or the charm's?"

He tried to lick her hand and whimpered to be released from the cage, but Chizrae backed away and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Talvalo. I can't let you out." Turning her back on him, she settled on the bedroll and curled into a ball to think. After several long minutes, she decided to add a few more things to his journal. And when she finished writing, she decided to make use of her time by reading. She had brought several books from her collection, so she could do some research on werewolves. Each time she glanced toward the cage, the snow wolf would lift his chin, his ears would perk up, and his tail would _thump, thump, thump_ lightly on the floor, indicating hope. But the drow was unsympathetic and refused to go near.

After about an hour of reading, Chizrae became discouraged and set down the book to rub her tired eyes. While the majority of her reading material described common locations, features, and tales of werewolves, the only book that offered her any indirect resource was the one that mentioned werewolves were one of several man-beast spawns of the demon lord Hircine, "Huntsman of the Princes". Whether that meant he was a daedra prince who enjoyed hunting, or some other entity that enjoyed hunting daedra princes, she couldn't tell. Though she had read extensively on them, the daedra of Tamriel were still a great mystery to the drow. Trying to learn more about them was a somewhat confusing blend of having to learn an entirely new pantheon of deities and cosmos origins and a rehash of old explanations on the pros and cons of the invocation of demons from her own origins. She was familiar with Azura, mother of Morrowind's dark elves and guardian of Nerevar's spirit, but Hircine was another matter. Hircine's sphere was the ultimate sport - the hunt and sacrifice of mortals.

One other interesting thing she noted was that Masser's fullness coincided with Hircine's summoning date, and yet according to one book, _On Oblivion_, the author declared that he knew of no one who could summon him. But it was an appeal to an immortal power that had finally cured her vampire friend of his curse, so perhaps an appeal to Hircine could help a werewolf somehow. The problem was that she had no instructions, rituals, or magical artifacts. She had nothing to go on at all.

Chizrae looked down at her arms and hands, still streaked with blood. She had read that a werewolf's claws were the more common tool for transmitting the curse of lycanthropy, but she had been bitten as well. Either way, she wondered if her natural resistance to magic, or her acquired immunity to diseases and poisons, would help her this time, … or if she was at risk for infection now, too. This was different from working with vampires, whose fledglings were deliberately chosen. The drow looked from the Moon-and-Star ring that still graced her finger to the cage a short distance away.

The white wolf within the bars cocked its head to one side and gave its tail another wag as she stood.

"Stay," she told him, as if he had a choice. Then, she ignored him to grab a towel and some sload soap from her pack before heading up the tunnel to the surface. Unlocking the outer door, she left the cavern to stand on the small island alone and gaze up at the blood red moon. The former priestess had not prayed to any immortal power in what seemed like ages. Even her contact with Azura had been granted to her in dreams from the other side, not petitioned. "Azura, ... if you hear me, ... if you still favor me for whatever your reasons, ... please tell me what to do."

After a long moment of feeling nothing in response, the drow gave up and waded into the cool, clear water. She removed her blood-stained clothes to rinse them out and washed her wounds as well as she could. After a short swim to try to relax, she wrapped herself in her towel, grabbed her clothes, and returned to the cavern.

The snow wolf followed her along the length of his cage from one side to the other and sat down to patiently wait while she dried off and healed her wounds. Half-way through that process, his patience grew thin and he let out a bark and began to whine. When that received no response either, he finally gave up and lay down again; but resting his head on his forelegs, he continued to sullenly watch every move she made.

The drowess ran a hand over her smoothly healed shoulder, satisfied that it felt and looked normal again. Then, she dug out a fresh change of clothing - a light-weight armored body suit, a short skirt wrap, and boots. She paused to look at the cage, and after the wolf lifted his head to look back at her, she pulled on the matching pauldrons and bracers as well. She wasn't going to risk an attack like that again. Dressed and armored, she settled on the bedroll again and spent the rest of the evening reading, until she finally succumbed to the need for sleep.

Talvalo whimpered one last time and raised a paw to the bars, but then gave up and curled into a ball in the corner of the cage nearest to her.

))((

Chizrae tossed and turned in restless sleep as a vision came to her in her dreams - a demon with stag antlers and an indistinguishable face.

_"Mortal blessed of Azura, she has requested that I give you consult, but do not think I have come to do you any favors. You are not one of my own. It is only because I found your hunt for the heart of Lorkhan entertaining that I have agreed to speak with you."_

The drow envisioned herself standing before the daedra lord dressed in an odd assortment of attire from her past - the white chiffon gown of Eilistraee, the serpent-headed whip of Lloth at her belt, the Moon and Star ring of Azura on her hand, and ... a white wolf at her side. She bowed her head to address the immortal power with formal respect. "Hircine, Father of the Man-Beasts, please tell me what you require in exchange for the release of one bound to you?" The question was for herself now as much as it was for Talvalo.

_"The one for whom you seek freedom has belonged to me since before he became one of my Hounds. He lived his life as a ravenous wolf, greedily devouring every lust he could imagine. The physical manifestation of his curse is merely reflection of what lies within. The spirit of the wolf runs in his blood as much as the curse that binds him. Even if I did release him, he would eventually come back to me."_

Chizrae angered at what he was implying and she dared to look up. "You don't know that. Immortals may rule the realm of chance, but mortals still rule the realm of choice. I'm sure that he would make different choices now, if given the chance," she argued.

_"He has already sacrificed his chances! He will never escape himself. You dare to challenge me on this matter? I never release my prey once I've captured it. However, what you ask is a bold move for someone in your position. Because your own hunt captured my interest, I will grant him one more chance; but this time __**you**__ will make the choice. I will grant him freedom from his dual existence as both man and beast, but in return he must sacrifice his elven form completely and forever desire the hunt. Or, I will grant him freedom from the desire for the hunt that drives his instinct beyond reason, but in return he must forever physically acknowledge the duplicity of the truth that lies within his body and soul. Choose."_

Chizrae gasped in dismay. This wasn't what she wanted at all! To be cured of the transformation, he would have to surrender to the Bloodlust. To be cured of the Bloodlust, he would have to surrender to the transformation. The drow buried her face in her hands as her own selfish desires began to seep into her reasoning. She tried hard to push them away before they could taint the outcome, but she knew in her heart it was too late.

_"You have made your decision. He is released. Until we meet again ..."_

The dream ended with a vision of a crimson moon and an overwhelming feeling of terror as she found herself running through a long, dark maze filled with werewolves - a nightmarish version of the attack that had happened earlier that night.

The drow abruptly sat up in a cold sweat and immediately checked her surroundings. Her hand fumbled under the bedroll pillow for a dagger that wasn't even there. As her heart raced wildly beneath her ribs, and she fought to catch her breath, she turned toward the snow wolf in the cage. The animal lifted his head in response. Chizrae realized it was just a dream, ... or was it? She'd had enough experiences with visions and invaded dreams now that she couldn't help but be paranoid about it, just as she was paranoid about everything else. After a moment, the drow tried to shrug it off and lay back down.

Talvalo rested his head on his forelegs once more and continued his sentinel vigil over her while she slept.

))((

As soon as she woke the next morning, Chizrae rolled over to look toward the cage.

At her movement, the snow wolf once again lifted his large white head and gave his tail a light wag, … ever hopeful. With a big yawn, showing all of his teeth, he stood, stretched, and moved to whimper and paw at the lock.

The drow had hoped things would be different for him when she woke, but at least he had not reverted back to were-form. She supposed that was a good sign, but in light of her dream, she wasn't sure what to expect now. Standing, she moved to the crate and pulled a slab of half-eaten bear meat from it. She walked to the cage to drop it in and watched quietly for a few minutes as the wolf nosed it around and proceeded to eat. His teeth left frosty markings with each bite he tore from the rest of the flesh. When he was done, the snow wolf licked his lips and pawed at the door once more, but she ignored him. Instead, she grabbed a bowl from her backpack and returned to the shore to fill it with water from the tide.

When she came back to the cage, she paused in hesitation, but removed the key ring from around her bicep and unlocked it. The snow wolf wagged his tail in anticipation of freedom, but her knee nudged his head and shoulders out of the way as she set down the bowl. The wolf sniffed the water and eagerly lapped up mouthfuls of the refreshing drink before he realized she was closing and locking the door once more. Disregarding the water, he whined and pawed at the bars again.

Chizrae touch the paw and then the nose that poked between the bars to lick her hand. "I know you want out, but you have to stay in there until I've seen this process all the way through and can figure out what to make of it." She smiled lightly at the happy grin that he wore. "And you can't sweet talk your way out of it this time, either, … so don't even try."

The wolf groused and snorted in response, but the drowess stood and returned to the bedroll and her books for more research. When he saw that he was going to be ignored again, Talvalo trotted to the side of the cage where her back pack was, growled loudly, and lifted a leg.

Chizrae looked up just in time to jump off the bedroll and snatch her backpack away from the line of fire. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she snapped.

The wolf groused in complaint again, went back to the door, and pawed at it with a bark.

"Fine," she grumped, casting her pack to the bedroll and unlocking the door again. "But go do your business outside - not in here."

The wolf ran out of the cage and up the tunnel to the outer door. She had left it unlocked, so it was easy for him to push it open and run outside. Several minutes later, he ran back down the tunnel and trotted back through the open door of the cage to sit down, content.

The drowess sighed and shook her head. Closing the door and turning the key in the lock, she met his green-eyed gaze and leaned against the bars. "You're you again, aren't you? You're just trapped in that body."

The snow wolf came to the door where she stood and wagged his tail.

She noticed for the first time that his breath was actually a thin puff of cold mist, but everything about his expression - if she could call it that - was Talvalo. Sighing heavily, she set the key back in the lock and opened the door. "Okay, you don't have to sit in there anymore, as long as you can behave. Just know that if you were a giant spider or a lizard, that puppy-eyes thing wouldn't work."

The wolf trotted to the bedroll and curled into a comfortable position.

"And of course, you choose to sit right in the center of the only comfortable place in here."

Talvalo stood and moved to the end, but not without a gruff complaint. After she sat down again, though he'd been banished to the foot of the bed, he inched his way back up until he could prop his head on her leg.

The prospect of being attacked again still frightened her, but she touched the calming charm that hung about his neck and gave him a cautious pet. In return, he licked the back of her hand. The place where he licked felt cool, as if touched by an icicle, but it didn't freeze the way his bite did. Chizrae gave him an uncertain smile. "You'd better not have fleas, or no more bedroll for you."

The snow wolf lifted his head and cocked it to one side with another half-growl, half-whine complaint.

Sighing heavily, the drow turned her attention to his journal once more. Pulling it from the top of the stack, she took his writing tools and set to work, this time recording the events she saw in her dream.

Talvalo licked his lips, set his head on her leg again, and closed his eyes for a nap.

))((

The third day in the werewolf lair passed pretty much the same way the second one did. Chizrae made sure Talvalo had fresh food and water, and he generally slept at her side while she browsed her books. It soon became clear to her there simply wasn't a lot of documented information out there on werewolves, and she decided she might have better luck at the library in Vivec, or Jobasha's book store for rare tomes. In the meantime, she turned her attention to his stack of older journals and started reading his travel tales, poetry, and impressions of actually being a werewolf. She was beginning to accept the snow wolf as Talvalo's new form, but reading his thoughts in his own handwriting reminded her that somewhere beneath that animal was an elf.

When the fourth day of their self-imposed exile from the outside world came, Chizrae shifted in her sleep and felt an arm stretch across her waist. The warmth of skin against her skin was enough of a different sensation to wake her.

"Chizrae?" Talvalo whispered as he propped himself on one elbow and leaned close to her.

The drow rolled from her side onto her back and blinked to adjust her vision as she awakened. It had only been three days, but it was long enough that she was mesmerized at the sight of a male elf beside her, rather than a wolf. "Is it over?" she cautiously asked.

"I remember," he anxiously whispered. "I know who I am! I know who you are! I even remember being a wolf. I was aware of everything as it happened this time." He couldn't help but smile with hope at this accomplishment. "I think I'm cured."

The drow touched a hand to his bare shoulder and arm, as if needing reassurance that he really was back within his elven form. She noticed, for the first time, a tattoo which marked his left collar bone - a small skull and crossbones. The skull, however, was that of a wolf, and it bore a dagger between its sharp teeth. A larger, more colorful tattoo of a ship carried on the waves and the north wind marked his bicep, but she saw other markings on his skin as well - the burns on his hand and arm from her fire bite and shock spells. The white fang on the silver chain that hung from his neck, swayed gently with each breath he took. It's magic had apparently worked to calm him, but ... "You're not cured, Talvalo." She reached to touch the charm. "I invoked Hircine to release you from the curse, but ... I think I only made things worse," she sleepily confessed.

"He gave me the same vision that he gave you. I was there. I saw everything." He folded his hand over hers, over the charm, and held them still. "Thank you."

"But … he refused to release you. You will continue to transformation every full moon for the rest of your life."

"You freed me from the Bloodlust. As long as I'm in control of my own mind, I can live in a wolf's body for a few days every so often. It's a compromise worth having. But if you hadn't interceded for me, nothing would have changed."

Chizrae grew quiet for a moment as she studied the tattoo on his collarbone. "Did you know you have two wolf forms? A werewolf and a snow wolf."

"I do now because I'm able to remember. When the charm forced the Bloodlust into submission, I tried to shift out of the were-form and ended up as a snow wolf. I couldn't change back into an elf, so I preferred to stay in snow wolf form to finish waiting out the full moon."

"You mean, … you could have chosen to return to were-form at will?"

"I think so, yes." Talvalo released her hand to pull her blanket over himself and sat up. "I have a gut feeling the were-form is going to be Hircene's permanent mark on me, since he didn't want to let me go - since I have to accept my existence between man and animal as part of my freedom from the Bloodlust. But without the Bloodlust, I think I can control both wolf forms from now on." He looked down at the calming charm he wore and lifted it to take another look at it. "I might not even need this now. But I think I'll keep it anyway, … just in case." His brows rose in apology. "I am _so sorry_ I attacked you. I tried to warn you, but I couldn't stop. The sleep staff didn't work, so you should have used the domination charm on me, or something."

"I gave you my word that I wouldn't."

"Then you should have teleported back to Mysthaven using the key."

"Running away wouldn't have accomplished anything."

"You would have been safe."

"I would have been okay for the moment, but then I would have had to come back into it all over again, or wait until the next cycle to try to find a solution. I was stupid to not wear any armor, though. Next time I will take better precautions."

"But in spite of everything, ... you healed me. You kissed me, and you stayed." He searched her eyes for an explanation.

The drowess met his gaze for a long moment as if accused of some kind of crime she was ready to deny, but then she turned her attention away and drew his journal toward her. "Would you like to hear some of what I've learned about lycanthropy? There are seven documented types of were-beings in Tamriel, the werewolf being the most common and long-standing among legends. One researcher I read from opened the belly of a werewolf and found more plant matter than animal flesh in it. So, he assumes that it's possible for werewolves to survive on other wild foods without having to stalk and kill people the way that they do. I disagree. Wolves are carnivores. To train them to a different diet would be cruel and dangerous to their well-being." She opened the book and skimmed through the notes she had written. "This same author is unsure of whether the Bloodlust is caused by their bitterness at being cursed, or a desire to infect more people, or sheer madness brought on by the disease."

"Madness," he easily confirmed without having to think about it. "Why did you stay?"

The drowess accepted his answer, but ignored his question. "That same researcher said that he knew of no cures after the first transformation had taken place, but that there was a coven of witches in the foothills of High Rock that his colleague was investigating about the matter." She paused and looked up from her notations. "Where the hell is High Rock?"

"Other side of Tamriel - far, far away from here. Why did you stay?"

"Well, that's not much help either, then. Most of this is actually rather useless information. Other than horror stories of people who witnessed attacks, there's just not much written on them, except the basics. They're found in every province. They're highly allergic to silver. And they don't revert back to human form if they die in were-form. Any idiot would know these things, so it's no help at all." She looked up again. "And I assume they don't realize elves are vulnerable to werewolf attacks too, since humans are the only examples of victims in these books. A different physiology might be involved for elves, though."

Reaching for his journal, he pulled it away from her and closed it, so that she couldn't continue reading. "Chizrae, _why _did you stay?"

The drow fidgeted uncomfortably with the Moon-and-Star on her finger and grew quiet trying to think of some other excuse to distract him, but she could feel his eyes on her as she hesitated to answer. "I just ... tend to be a little hard-headed sometimes." She placed a hand over the burn on his arm and cooled it with a small healing spell. "Or, maybe I'm ... beginning to care a little too deeply."

He changed positions so that he was sitting beside her instead of facing her. "You act like that's a bad thing." Draping an arm across her shoulders, he coaxed her to lean against his collarbone so he could rest his chin on top of her head. "Should I be wary of someone trying to cut out my heart?"

The drow sat up with a frown, bumping his chin. "Don't even joke about that."

Talvalo winced and rubbed the spot where her skull collided with his jawbone. "Wow. Hard-headed doesn't begin to describe it," he quipped.

The drow sighed at his blithe mannerism and started to pull away, but he caught her by the arm to prevent her from getting up.

"Okay, okay. Don't walk away just yet. Let me try again. You said, 'I think I'm beginning to care too deeply.' So, what I meant to say was, ..." He paused to be sure there was no mistaking a genuine statement for dry humor. "I think I love you, too."

The drowess froze. "Don't say that. You only _think_ you feel that way because I've helped you. I want no part of it." She started to pull away again, but Talvalo wouldn't let go.

"Oh, I get it. Drow don't fall in love, just like they don't make friends. Is that it? What am I supposed to say then: I _alliance_ you?" He grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Look, ... I know we came together under some really quirky circumstances, and we make a rather absurd couple. But, let's be honest here. No one will ever understand you the way that _I _do, … okay? I know what it's like to keep secrets because someone might consider me a monster, and I know what it's like to admit that I am. I know what it's like to feel Bloodlust. I know what it's like to be afraid to trust. But I took a chance and trusted you with my secret. And then I took another chance on trusting you to help me do something about it because ... no one will ever understand _me_ the way that you do." He began to anger slightly. "I didn't want this to lead to anything beyond a profit, believe me. But you've ... burned yourself into my consciousness somehow with your damned … squid soup, moon gardens, and dwemer cogs. You're one of the most maddening people I've ever met! But you're -" He paused, exhausted trying to explain himself to her, and tried to sort his unorganized thoughts for a moment before speaking again. "You're my wife. We're already married. I'm just asking for a chance to try to make it work, … for real."

The drowess found herself somewhat stunned. Compared to his usual flowery prose, this sounded like a tongue-tied blurb. "You remember the cog?"

Talvalo sighed in exasperation. "Are you even listening to me? I remembered everything the moment I kissed you, ... right before I turned against you. My memories became foggy during the initial change, but they came back to me once I was able to calm down and focus on you. I remembered who you were. And then everything else fell into place again."

Her fingertips touched his jaw, and she pushed aside the memory of razor-sharp teeth to try to recall the two soft kisses he'd given her prior to his transformation. "Caring deeply can sometimes be a little scary."

"I know." He stroked a hand down her silken, silver-white hair. "I know because I'm in love with a god-forsaken drow," he mused.

Her fingers moved to his lips as if she was unable to hear his words, so she had to touch them. "Say it again."

Forehead against hers, eyes closed, he spoke the three words drow fear the most. "I love you."

Her fingers traced his jawline, beneath his long, loose hair. Those words were more frightening than the monster that had nearly killed her, but she wanted to hear them again.

"This has all been very tiring. My body aches with all it's been through. Let's go home," he softly suggested.

She touched the wolf's skull and ship that were permanently etched into his skin. They brought to mind some of the tales she'd read in his journals about his adventures along the northern sea between Dagon Fel and Solstheim. "These are symbols for the _Sea Wolf_ aren't they?"

Talvalo pulled back with a sigh. "Yes, that's the pirate ship that took me on as one of their crew. And yes, I'm aware of the irony in that name, but it has nothing to do with me. The ship was named for the wolves that clustered near our smuggler's den in Solstheim - that and the fact that the Nords consider them sacred creatures because of their swiftness and cleverness when hunting. They often summon them as spirit guardians. We had a couple of Skaal village idiots who joined our crew because they resented the Empire building Fort Frostmoth on their land. They used to predict our successes in overtaking the Imperial ships by listening to the cries of the wolves. Oddly enough, they were usually right."

"Do they know about what happened to you?"

"No. I quit the _Sea Wolf_ to marry Sarinowyn. When things went wrong with her, they found out about the broken engagement; but I haven't told anyone else about the curse. The only people that know about it are Sarinowyn, her friend, and you. And I haven't seen either of them since before the first transformation, so that leaves only you."

"How do you feel about Solstheim now?"

"I don't hate it, if that's what you're asking. It feels a bit like a spiritual home, ... maybe because of the wolf's blood."

An idea came to the drow and she tilted her head back, as if stretching her imagination toward something fanciful. "You promised me a honeymoon in Valenwood, you know."

"Yes, well, that was a bit tongue-in-cheek, wasn't it? I mean it's clear on the other side of the Empire." Shifting again, he rolled onto his stomach so that his ribs rested across her thighs, and his elbows rested on either side of them, chin in hand looking up at her. "I won't complain if you take me up on the honeymoon portion of that suggestion, though," he added with a devious smirk. "Honeymoon, hunting moon ... What's the difference really? We've got sload soap, bear meat scraps, and the entire Sea of Ghosts at our front door, no extra charge. Besides, ... I owe you for sharing your room with me in Caldera."

A slow, cat-like smile curled the drowess's lips. "Actually, I was thinking about trading these _lovely_ accommodations for a few days in Solstheim."

"I'm game. That's where we told everyone we were heading anyway. And we've got time to spare, now that I don't need to waste it on lost memories. We could hop a ship from here to Dagon Fel, and then I know of one from there that goes to a pirate town off the coast of Solstheim. The pirate town has ships that can take us further to the mainland. I might even be able to introduce you to some of my old _Sea Wolf_ friends, if you're interested. I'm sure they'd love to hear that I married General Nerevar." He cracked a wry grin.

Chizrae was glad to see he had full capacity of his memories back, even if it meant having to tolerate his Nerevarine jokes again. "Well, I only wanted a cozy little cabin with a hot sauna, but I know how difficult it is for you to see past the fact that I'm actually a very old, very dead _man_, so -"

"Oh, I'm _very_ past that fact now," he quickly corrected her.

"Are you?"

"Absolutely. Watching your little bath the other night cured me forever of any doubts. In fact, it's part of what helped me maintain my sense of self through everything," he told her, in all seriousness as he fingered the edge of her lightweight cuirass.

"Is that so?" she played along.

"Yes. The whole time I was in that cage, I was thinking, 'Damn it! Of all the _stupid_ times to be a stuck as a wolf!'"

She laughed lightly. "Then, you can help me think of ways to stay warm in Solstheim?"

"I'll see what I can do," Talvalo promised with a grin, leaning close for a kiss.


	12. Chapter 12: Imperial Eyes

Chapter 12: Imperial Eyes

Two weeks after their supposed week-long trip to Solstheim, Chizrae and Talvalo returned to Mysthaven. "We're home!" the drowess called out as she walked through the door of the anteroom into the main hall's living and dining area. Setting her travel bag down and looking for someone to greet them, she saw that the place was empty. "That's odd. I thought your family would be here by now." She looked over her shoulder at Talvalo to seek his opinion.

"Maybe their trip from Vivec to Seyda Neen was delayed. Or, maybe we lucked out and they went back home, since we weren't back on time." The altmer set down his bag beside hers and walked to the fireplace where a small table had a chess game set up on it. "Hmmm ... Aridis loves chess. My bet is that they're here; they've just gone somewhere else for the moment. Ooh, black queen is set up to take the white king if that pawn moves forward next. I wonder if he saw that move before quitting."

The drowess smirked mischievously and moved behind him. "Sounds like we have the house all to ourselves, then." Facing his back, she reached under his arms, to give him a hug. Then, she tugged the string of leather lacing at the neck of his linen shirt to untie it.

Talvalo smirked at her flirtation. "Yes, but fun and games are over now. We have to act like normal married people. Responsibility and all that rubbish, or your little dragon stash is going to run low. We've probably already cut it down to half the size of what it used to be." He used a finger to subtly inch the pawn forward.

"There's plenty of guild and mercenary work out there to be had. Plus, we have the inn and the horses. The fun and games are just beginning. You still know absolutely nothing about drow, do you? Taking me on a real honeymoon was like offering catnip to a cat. You should have considered that before you volunteered to be my _pl-aything_." Chizrae slipped a finger under the second set of cross-lacing to pull the cords out of the eyelets.

He pushed one of the black knights into a perfect position between the white king and queen, and then puzzled over the game board some more. "Oh, I have no complaints about being catnip, believe me. Of course, having to explain the scratches on my neck and back to my old ship mates when we boarded the _Sea Wolf_ was a bit less than entertaining."

"_They_ were entertained." Chizrae plucked the third set of leather strips from the eyelets lacing his shirt.

"Yes, but we're talking about the same people who were entertained by One-Eye Fangtooth's ability to put on a lewd puppet show with a fresh-caught bass and a trout. Hand them any little scrap, and they'll chew on it like it's a full course meal." After giving it some thought, he used a finger to prod a bishop behind one of the knights, lining it up rather subtly with one of the queens.

"Well, I thought they were rather fun. Ugly, noisy, and smelly, ... but fun. Not as fun as you, though. I'd say I got the pick of the _Sea Wolf's_ litter." She finished unlacing his shirt so that it lay open down to his stomach, and then she withdrew her hands to grasp the seams at the back of his shoulders and draw the shirt away from his back.

Talvalo chuckled at her not-so-subtle seduction, but he decided to keep his concentration on the game just to see how long it took her to become irritated that she was being ignored. "Well, it's the middle of the day now. This isn't the time of day for that kind of fun."

"You didn't complain about time of day in the cavern, ... or in Dagon Fel, ... or on the ship, ... or in Solstheim." She removed the new leather cuff from his hair and tossed it over her shoulder.

"Of course not, but you're undressing me in the living room, for god's sake," he answered in mock argument. "The living room's no good; we might upset the chess game or something."

"You mean the game that you've already screwed up so badly that neither Aridis, nor his chess partner, will be able to figure out which piece to move next without losing?" She continued to bait him by planting soft kisses on his shoulder blades until she had to stand on her toes to reach his neck. Then, she loosed the back of his shirt and slid her hands beneath it, around his stomach and up to his chest. "I'd be doing them a favor to knock over every one of those pieces and make them start over."

Her touch and her kisses sent delicate chills across his torso, but Talvalo tried to remain steadfast. "I'm not screwing up their game; I'm giving them the ultimate conundrum to solve," he insisted.

"_Conundrum?_ Is that even a real word?"

"The look on my brother's face will be priceless, believe me. It's the reaction that you want from this kind of thing, not the result."

The drow gave a sultry laugh. "Exactly."

Talvalo finally turned to face her with amusement. "Excuse me? Who's playing who here? If you're going to be that way about it, you can just keep your hands to yourself." With a half-laugh, he tried to push her hands away.

The drow gave a smug laugh and removed her hands from within his shirt, but then pushed him back against the table and dug her fingers into his hair as she pressed herself against him with an aggressive kiss.

Talvalo lost the battle of wills in favor of the kiss, but the moment that it ended, he strengthened his resolve again. "Chizrae, I am _trying_ to play a game here. I'm not going to have sex with you on the chess board!"

"Ahem!" a third voice interrupted them.

Talvalo and Chizrae froze in place. Then, in unison, they looked behind them to see Selena, Bodil, Aridis, Ilansa, their mother, Ilansa's husband, and their two nieces and two nephews all standing in the living room staring at them with astonished expressions.

"Woah," the oldest boy commented, awed.

Ilansa quickly used her hands to cover her eldest son's eyes. "Talvalo, really!" She frowned at her younger brother's outrageous behavior in front of her children.

Chizrae cleared her own throat and wordlessly released Talvalo. Sliding away from him, she hid her guilty-but-humored smile behind the back of her hand and waited for the introductions.

Talvalo took a moment to regain his dignity as he straightened his shirt back up over his shoulders and pulled the last two laces together in a fruitless effort to close it over his chest again. "Hello, everyone. I see you've made it to Mysthaven safe and sound." He cast an chagrined glance over his shoulder at the drowess behind him, and then moved to stand before the elder altmer woman with silver hair coiled in intricate curls on top of her head. "Mother," he said in greeting as he kissed her in a cheek-to-cheek manner. "Sorry our arrival back from Solsthiem was a bit late, but I trust you've enjoyed exploring the island to occupy your time?"

"It's a lovely manor and island, dear." The elegant altmer woman tried to see past her son to the female dark elf that had been all over him. "I'm sorry to give abrupt notice for the visit, but Aridis told me that you'd married; so I just _had_ to come congratulate you and meet your new wife."

"Of course, you did." Talvalo kept the rest of his sarcastic musings to himself, smiled, and stepped out of her way to gesture toward the drow still standing near the game board. "Mother, this is Chizrae."

"Oh my. Aridis told me she was a dark elf, but she's a very, _very _dark elf, isn't she? I don't think I've ever seen that skin color on a dunmer before." She walked around Talvalo to meet Chizrae. "But it does create a lovely contrast with that white hair and that ... white lace dress." She tried to compliment the drow's rather skimpy choice of style. "Did you wear that vest and short skirt in Solstheim? I've heard it's terribly cold and rugged up there."

Chizrae took the woman's hand in both of hers and put on her biggest smile. "Your son kept me _very_ warm," she assured her, patting her hand. "May I call you Mother?"

Talvalo groaned to himself and massaged a migraine he felt coming on.

The elder woman seemed undecided at first, but then managed a smile and returned the hand pat gesture. "Quiinya is fine. Welcome to the Shalonethyr family, my dear." She hesitantly gave the dark elf the same cheek-to-cheek kiss that her son greeted her with.

"Shalonethyr?" Chizrae looked to Talvalo over his mother's shoulder.

Talvalo realized the drow had probably not even known his family name until now.

"It is the honored name of the first member of our family to leave Valenwood for Cyrodiil and establish a new home there toward building a unified empire," his mother explained. "In the old language it means 'Sunchief of Crystal Armor'."

The drow lifted a brow in amusement. "Really? He never told me that. My house name is Velve'Xukuth, which translates to 'Dagger Heart'."

Quiinya was stumped on how to compliment her new daughter-in-law on a name like that. "Do you come from one of Morrowind's noble houses, or are you from the Ashland tribes?"

"Are you familiar with dark elf culture and cities?" the drow asked, careful of her wording.

"No," her mother-in-law admitted.

Chizrae smiled and reached into her past history to fluff her present circumstances. "House Velve'Xukuth was the nineteenth noble house of the city of Menzoberranzan."

"Menzo ... berranzan? Is that anywhere near Mournhold?"

Chizrae looked tempted to answer 'yes', but Talvalo shook his head hoping to ward off any more of her skewed truth disasters.

"Sun and darkness, armor and dagger ... Why, even your names are a bit of a contrast, ... as if there's no way in the world this could ever work." The elder altmer woman laughed to cover her discomfort with trying to adjust to her son's choice in a mate.

"Note who has the advantage of the dagger, though," Aridis spoke up with a smirk. "I've heard, Talvalo, that it is tradition for dark elven women to attend their weddings with a dagger hidden somewhere on their person, adding to their vows a secret promise concerning what they will do to their husbands if they show signs of infidelity," he joked.

Reminding himself that he knew this would happen, Talvalo stopped holding his breath and turned around to finish introductions. "Chizrae, this is my sister, Ilansa, and her husband, Sormallian, ... and you've already met my asinine brother, Aridis."

"Now, now ...," Aridis wagged a finger at him in amusement. "I'm merely trying to give you a one-up on the situation. I hear dark elven women are very cunning about those kinds of things. Am I right, Chizrae?"

Talvalo noticed the drowess's wry smile as she lifted a brow of warning to him, though whether it was because she already knew of that obscure, little tale, or because his brother had just given her an idea for future reference, he couldn't be sure.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Chizrae." Sormallian stepped forward to take her hand and grace it with a kiss, but Ilansa, who was still clearly uncomfortable with the drow's earlier display, merely nodded in greeting, instead.

"What about us?" The oldest nephew asked of Talvalo. "You didn't tell her our names."

"That's because you don't count," Talvalo answered.

The boy grinned, undaunted by his uncle's dry humor. "I'm Seanyaran," he introduced himself to Chizrae, stepping up to her and offering his hand like a formal little gentleman.

Talvalo placed a hand on the boy's head and pushed him back a step. "Seanyaran's about to hit puberty, so he'll probably be a little more eager to get to know you than the rest of them."

"It's not like that at all!" The mildly embarrassed teen laughed and cuffed his uncle's hand from his head.

"At least he has an excuse. You never outgrew it." Aridis chuckled as he also greeted Chizrae with a kiss to her hand. Then, he turned his attention to the chess board behind her.

Ilansa finally decided to join the conversation by introducing the rest of her children. "This is our other son, Karmarel, and our two daughters Errelleri and Nalcaria."

Chizrae marveled at the children's manners as they bowed and curtsied. "So very different from drow children, who bow for the sake of obedience, rather than charm," she muttered beneath her breath to Talvalo.

"Thank you for the fairy book," Errelleri, the older girl, spoke.

Chizrae tried to smile, unsure of what to say. "I'm not used to buying gifts, ... especially for children. I hope you like it."

"I imagine you had Talvalo's help in selecting items of such personal interest, having never met us, but they were very thoughtful. Thank you," Ilansa added, trying to put her first impression of the drow behind her.

"So, tell me a little about yourself, Chizrae," Quiinya queried the drow again. "Do you follow the teachings of the Imperial divines, or are you a follower of the Tribunal gods instead?"

"I am no longer a follower," the drowess bluntly answered. "I used to be a priestess, but now I'm a spellsword." She could tell her mother-in-law did not expect that kind of response and was trying to determine whether that meant she had been excommunicated, or had lost her faith, or both.

"I see." Quiinya decided to move past it to another matter that was bugging her. "And, I hope you don't think I'm being too personal, but I was also wondering if there was, ... you know, ... a _reason_ for this sudden marriage?"

"Reason?"

"She wants to know if we're expecting," Talvalo flatly translated and then gave his mother a frown for asking.

"Expecting what?" Chizrae asked.

"Well, ... it was rather sudden wasn't it?" Quiinya excused her curiosity. "And, if I'm to be a grandmother again, it would be a courtesy to tell me. Or did you think I'd so highly disapprove just because the child wouldn't be a full-blood altmer? I didn't complain about the possibility of half-human grandchildren when you nearly married that Nord woman some time back, did I? I'm very open-minded, you know."

"No need to worry, Mother. We have no interest in spawning any little half-breeds in the near future," Talvalo answered with crisp offense.

"So, what were you doing all that time in Solstheim, Talvalo?" Sormallian seated himself opposite Aridis at the chess board, ready to finish their game.

Talvalo glanced to Chizrae and debated with himself for a second on how to answer. He recalled her advice on grinding up the truth for people who couldn't swallow it whole, and thought that was probably what kept the drow from getting offended through all of this. But, he chose a different approach. "Well, if you must know, we fought a werewolf, summoned a daedra prince, joined a bunch of pirates for a night of drunken debauchery, and then spent our honeymoon ravishing each other in a grand castle."

His family exchanged uncertain looks for a moment, but then his mother laughed and patted his cheek. "Talvalo, dear, you always were such a dreamer. You and your stories of adventure." She faced Selena. "Might I have a glass of water, please? I'm feeling a bit parched after my walk."

"This way." Selena gestured toward the kitchen and led her there.

Talvalo answered Chizrae's questioning expression with a shrug. The drowess smirked in approval at the result.

"Alright then, where were we?" Aridis rolled up the sleeves of his magus robe and placed his hands on his knees. Staring long and hard at his game pieces, he tried to regain his former strategy. After a moment, however, both elves looked up from the chess board with dismayed expressions. Then, Aridis turned to his brother with a sharp frown. "Talvalo!"

"See? Priceless," Talvalo announced to Chizrae.

"He used to do this when we were children," Aridis explained with exasperation as he and his brother-in-law cleared the board to restart their game. "The moment I looked away, he was trading cards or rearranging pieces. I don't know if he's even capable of playing a game without cheating."

"Just for that comment, I should withhold my monthly interest this time," Talvalo answered.

Aridis faced his younger brother. "You mean you actually have it?"

"I do. It's your own money that you paid to the inn during your last stay here, but profit is profit."

Aridis's face drew into a flat expression, and he turned to face his brother-in-law once more. "You see? The only way for him to win anything is to cheat at it?"

Karmarel tugged on the tail of Talvalo's shirt. "What's ... de-bau-ch'ry?"

Talvalo pursed his lips to try to think of an answer that wouldn't answer the question, when his niece, Nalcaria, tugged on his sleeve.

"May I ride the pony with the white stars?" she asked over the finger in her mouth.

At the mention of the horses, the boy was easily side-tracked from his previous question. "Can I ride the green one?"

"He's not green, Karmarel," Errelleri corrected him with a slightly haughty tone. "Whoever heard of a green horse. He's tan with green sworly marks."

The youngest child's small hand unexpectedly grasped onto the drow's fingers as she waited silently to be led outside to the horses. Chizrae gave her a friendly smile, but then looked to Talvalo, lost about what to do next.

Talvalo was pleasantly surprised at both the young girl's non-prejudiced acceptance of the sharp-edged drow and the drow's unlikely willingness to play along. "The Azuralia's not broken for a rider yet. I think Comet would be a better choice for the little ones," he advised.

Chizrae gave him a nervous nod of understanding, though about the children or the horses he couldn't say. Leading little Nalcaria to the door, she gestured for all three of the younger ones to follow her outside.

His oldest nephew remained behind and leaned close to whisper to him. "Did you really ride a pirate ship?"

Talvalo cast a cautious glance toward his sister before discreetly pulling the lapel of his shirt aside to show off the crossbones tattoo. A slow grin spread across the teen's features, but the battlemage put a finger to his lips. "Our secret," he quietly insisted.

Seanyaran nodded, pleased to be trusted with knowledge of it. "Did you meet any ghost ships or find shipwrecks full of treasure? Did you sail to Akavir? What was it like?" he whispered again, even more curious now than before.

"Yes, yes, no, and … ask me again when you're older," he gave his nephew a small wink as the door from the lower level opened and Shazi and Mysti came up from downstairs with Loki trailing behind them.

"Oh! Talvalo. You're back." Mysti grinned as she checked through her basket of lichen and trama roots brought up from the alchemy lab for the kitchen. "I take it Chizrae is also home, and things went well?"

The wolf was happy to see Talvalo again and came to lick his hand. But for the altmer, the wolf's greeting now took on a whole new meaning, and he crouched to scruff the animal with a hearty scratch. "Things went well," he answered with a broad grin. "Is everything here okay? Nothing to give Narsean or Jiub headaches, I assume?"

Already having met the wolf, Seanyaran knelt to pet it as if it were a big dog. "Loki! Come on, Loki!" he called, running outside to join his siblings, the wolf bounding at his heels.

"Everything is running smoothly," Mysti reported. "Narsean's had a few replies already concerning the inn from the invitations you sent out. Selena is getting a little impatient about seeing some profit on her potions, so you might want to deal with that first when you're ready to settle down for business." She looked around after saying it, to make sure Selena hadn't heard her tone of complaint.

"She's in the kitchen." Bodil smirked as he brushed a piece of dust from his eye.

Mysti gave him a thankful nod. "Elgian and Jiub decided to take care of out-of-town business while you were both away, since neither of them were urgently needed here. They should be back in a few days. Anyway, we've mostly been just playing hosts to your family." She nodded toward Ilansa with a smile. "We've been showing them around and making sure they're comfortable. Would you like us to take your bags upstairs for you, so you can spend some time with your nieces and nephews before you unpack?"

"I suppose so. Be careful, though, they're rather heavy with books and some fur clothing that we brought from Solstheim. Thank you, Mysti." He stretched his legs before standing his full height again and made a better attempt at re-lacing the front of his shirt to cover the tell-tale pirate ink. "I'd better see what Chizrae's doing to the kids. I don't know if she realizes that drawing a sword on them isn't the way most elves would handle a sibling quarrel."

))((

Mysti watched as he left and then turned to face her companion with a smile. "Let's get these to the kitchen so we can make some teas." Shazi, however, was no longer smiling and looked slightly pale. "Is something wrong?" Mysti asked.

Shazi glanced at Ilansa who had joined her husband and brother at the chess board. Then, she pulled the Breton sorceress aside and lowered her voice. "When Talvalo was petting the wolf, did you see his chest?"

Overhearing her, Bodil joined their huddle with a dark chuckle. "What's this? Thinking of trading a human priest for a certain elven battlemage, Shazi? I'd accuse you of looking for a younger man, but Talvalo's probably the same age as Olin, if not older," he quipped as he adjusted one of his bracers.

Mysti laughed at the bosmer's teasing.

Shazi's brows drew together in an unhappy expression. "This has nothing to do with Olin," she corrected his assumptions, keeping her voice down. "Talvalo's wearing a necklace with a white wolf fang on it - a calming charm like the one Loki wears. I recognize it because I made them both."

Bodil shrugged. "Maybe he liked the look of it and decided to keep it for himself, since they didn't bring home another wolf."

Shazi lifted her gaze to the window and watched through the glass as Talvalo and Seanyaran ran Loki in circles, keeping the wolf distracted while Chizrae helped the younger children on and off of the horses. Then, she faced Mysti and Bodil with a stern expression. "Don't be so sure she didn't."

The Imperial enchantress placed a hand on the door and proceeded into the kitchen.

))((

Later that evening, when Talvalo went upstairs to unpack, he lifted his heavy-laden travel bag and headed for the hallway as usual.

"Where do you think you're going?" Chizrae spoke to him.

"My room." He paused when she quirked a brow at that answer. "Unless, ... I'm invited to move in here now."

The drowess gave him a coy expression. "I think I can spare some space." Removing the new clothing from her bag, she walked past him into the hall to put the furs in the storage cabinets until winter.

Talvalo smirked to himself and set his bag on the chest at the end of the bed. Opening it, he removed his old journals that he brought with him from the cavern. He figured he would no longer need them there, now that he would be able to retain his own mind and remember. Walking to the bookshelves over the desk, the tall elf stacked them high to keep them out of easy, accidental reach from anyone else.

When Chizrae came back in, she grabbed the armful of research books from her own bag. "I'll take these down to the library and meet you at the inn," she said before leaving again.

"Okay." Talvalo transferred pants, shirts, and robes into the chest of drawers on the side of the room opposite where Chizrae kept her items. He would move the rest of his belongings from the other bedroom tomorrow. The last item he pulled from the bag was a small, carved statuette of a snow wolf they had bought from a peddler at their stop-over in the pirate town. She had bought it as a joke, promising him she would shrink him down to size if he ever attacked her again. He had never been able to joke about his condition before, … not until the drow found a sort of macabre humor in it.

He paused to take a good look at her room. Soft blue and green linens, tapestry rugs, silver candelabras, a lute lying on the chair near the fireplace, ... It was a reflection of her softer side, just like her moon garden and this entire estate - a place where she could escape the world's problems and have some peace. He understood what this peace meant to her now that he had finally found some measure of peace for himself. Satisfied, the altmer placed the wolf figurine on the desk below his journals. Then, he set his current journal on the desk beside it, along with his inkwell and quill, and headed down the stairs to join his wife and family at the inn for their evening meal.

))((

Several minutes after he had pulled the door shut behind him, it opened again. Shazi crept inside and silently closed it behind her. Trying to avoid crossing the creaky wooden floor unless it was necessary, she scanned the room for the book that Talvalo always carried with him.

The small wolf figurine on the desk caught her attention almost immediately, … as did the journal beside it. Tip-toeing to the desk, she reached a cautious hand to the book and opened it to the most recent entries, flipping backwards as she read what she feared she would - Chizrae's detailed notes about Talvalo's attack and her experiment with the calming charm. "Werewolf ..."

She was startled, however, to also find an account of the drowess's personal history, along with her confession of the rites of the Blooding.

Shazi finished reading and closed the book, careful to make sure she left it as she found it. Should she confront them? Should she tell someone else? Other than Talvalo's journal, she had no evidence; but to point to the journal would be admitting she snooped. Shazi decided to pretend she knew nothing, until she had good reason to say something. In the face of danger, should anything happen, perhaps her snooping would be forgiven.

))((

_(Three months later ...)_

The chill of the crisp autumn air in Balmora brought red, gold, and orange leaves to the few trees that dotted the hillside overlooking the city. Wild geese formed angled designs among the puffy, white clouds in the bright, blue sky. But when Chizrae came out of the Mage Guild building and closed the door behind her, she didn't notice the beauty as the wheel of seasons turned once more. The only thing that caught her attention was a sudden, brisk wind that swept through the narrow streets. And even then it was an automatic reaction to pull her cloak closer, rather than take note of her surroundings. She was undecided what to do about her next promotion in rank.

She had done all the tasks that the Mage Guild stewards could think of to give her, and she had worked her way up to a very prominent status. Only one rank remained beyond her reach, and the stewards in both Balmora and Ald'ruhn seemed to be prodding her toward it. Arch-mage Trebonius was not very popular among his stewards, and they were becoming impatient to see him replaced. While he was an extremely powerful mage, he didn't seem to care very much about the on-going projects in the guild, and his scholarship on matters of importance was lacking at best. She had worked with him personally on the dwemer book translations when he gave her the task of finding out what happened to the dwemer under Red Mountain, but she found his leadership skills to be ineffective and very frustrating. He even had a Telvanni spy right under his nose and failed to catch it when the clues had been so easy to spot. Should she consider what her fellow mages were suggesting and challenge him for his position? Or should she go above his head to the other Arch-mages in the Grand Council and see what they thought should be done?

From her pocket, Chizrae pulled her list of things to do while in Balmora, then crossed the street toward Darissa Darvell's book shop. The drow was still hunting for information on a lycanthropy cure for Talvalo, though there had not been any difficulties with him losing control of either of his wolf forms during any of the last three full moons.

They had established a new routine for getting through it. The first day of the full moon, they would use the Realmsfade book to travel to Vos and camp out together in Talvalo's lair. Still wearing his calming charm, he would voluntarily return to the cage for the initial transformation into werewolf, but without the Bloodlust driving his instincts, he could then further shape shift into a snow wolf, which Chizrae felt more comfortable with. She would then free him from the cage, while wearing her armor, and then they could keep each other company while they waited for the remainder of the moon phase to pass.

Talvalo allowed himself to use the other teleport key now, so that they could both immediately return home. They offered no explanation to their household about why they left for Vos for four days once a month, but since they both frequently left on various guild missions or business-related tasks, no one bothered to ask questions.

The drow was mentally reviewing which books she had already researched on the matter, when she stepped into the shop and was surprised by two familiar faces in there. Shazi was speaking with her former Blades trainer, Caius Cosades. Both of them looked up, startled at her appearance, but then both of them broke into smiles at the unexpected coincidence.

"Chizrae. I didn't realize you were coming to Balmora today, or I'd have asked you to join me," Shazi greeted her. She had said nothing to the drowess or the altmer about her discovery of their secret, but nothing bad seemed to have come of it ... yet.

"Mage Guild business," the drow stated without going into detail and pushed her hood back. Then, she reconsidered. "You're a member of the guild, aren't you Shazi?"

"Yes."

"What do you think of Trebonius's leadership over the Vvardenfell chapter?"

Shazi dropped a note of disgust. "Ugh. He's a bumbling idiot! I will be so glad when Ocato finds someone to replace him."

"Popular sentiments," the drowess noted. Then, she looked to Caius. "What are you doing back in Morrowind? I thought you'd been recalled to Imperial City."

"Shazi requested a copy of a particular scroll from the Imperial library for some research. When they found what she was looking for, I offered to do the delivery, since I was given another task in Vvardenfell, as well."

Shazi held up the precious scroll and waved it lightly. "Edwinna Elbert would kill for this scroll, but she's not about to get her greedy little hands on it."

"What's it about?"

"Oh, probably nothing of interest to you - dwemer cosmology and daedra stuff."

"Are you heading back to Mysthaven now?"

"Yes. I was going to take the silt strider to Seyda Neen and meet Olin to walk the rest of the way home. We have to enjoy the last of these sunny days before the winter yuckiness sets in. Would you like me to reserve a seat for you?"

"No, thank you. I have to take a trip to Sadrith Mora's Mage Guild and ask their opinions on the matter of Trebonius after I do some shopping. I'll use my teleport key to return home later tonight."

"See you later, then. It was nice to meet you, Caius. Thank you again for the scroll." Shazi waved and exited the bookstore.

Caius turned to face Chizrae with a genuine smile. "You look well."

"Surprisingly, so do you."

The Imperial Blades Spymaster chuckled at her unapologetic jab at the addiction he was battling the last time they met. "It's been a long time." He held out his elbow. "Care to walk with an old friend and catch me up to date on what you're into these days?"

Chizrae didn't want to ask questions about the lycanthropy book with Caius present, so she lifted her hood back over her head, hooked her arm through his, and let him lead her out of the store and back into the main street of Balmora's merchant district. "Kicked that nasty skooma habit yet?"

"It's a one-day-at-a-time effort," he honestly answered. "I heard about the Ghostfence going down. I think all of Morrowind has heard about it by now. Your success with the Nerevarine Prophecy has restored some luster to my armor in Imperial City in spite of the skooma, so I owe you one."

The drow remembered that Caius had been recalled just after she was cured of corprus. His last assignment for her was to contact Mehra Milo to find out how to get the lost prophecies, so he missed the final events of his own special operation in the end. "Dagoth Ur is defeated," she updated him, though she suspected he already knew that, too. "The heart of Lorkhan is destroyed. No one else will be able to tap it for godlike power and be corrupted in that manner again."

"I knew you could do it. I believed in you," he reaffirmed as they strolled down the cobbled stone. "But what about you, personally? How did you fare through all of that, meeting with Dagoth Ur, Vivec, and the rest of the Tribunal?"

Chizrae considered his question carefully. "You mean, did they accept me as Nerevar?"

"Of all the people you had to convince in order to accomplish what you did, they were the ones most likely to know if you were false."

This time, Chizrae chose her answers carefully. "I have not met the rest of the Tribunal, but Vivec secretly acknowledged what the dissident priests believed to be true. He and the other gods of the Tribunal are not gods at all, merely mortals corrupted by the same power as Dagoth Ur, but with a different outcome. The tools used to tap immortality were too tempting for any of them to resist, in spite of Nerevar's warnings. Now they are weakening. Dagoth Ur, ... he addressed me as both his friend and enemy right through to the end. I redeemed him and then destroyed him, just as the Prophecy declared that Nerevar would." She turned her chin to face him as they walked. "Does that make you nervous?"

Caius sighed and pulled his own cloak a little closer in the chilly weather. "I don't know what to think anymore. It was my job to train you for the position - to create a Nerevarine to fit the prophecy - but the more I worked with you, the more I came to believe it myself. Do many people outside of the Ashlander camps recognize you as Nerevarine?"

"More and more people seem to have received word of my features. When I least expect it, someone I don't know will thank me for lifting the blight from Red Mountain."

"How do you feel about that? Are you ready to take on the mantle of Nerevarine for _all_ of Morrowind?"

"It's a little late to be asking that question, isn't it?" She tilted her chin toward him and tried reading the lines on his face to guess what he was thinking. "Unless, ... you're referring to something more than Dagoth Ur."

"The Empire is nervous, Chizrae," he freely admitted.

"I'm aware of that. Supporters of the Empire have already made me aware of that, as well. My reception among the people of Morrowind is generally a good thing right now, but I see a division forming between those who wish for the second half of the prophecy to begin purging all foreigners from the land, and those who are willing to fight to remain in this place they've settled long enough to call home. The Outlanders who fear rebellion, are also beginning to fear me."

"And what is your position on these matters?"

"I have no position. I prefer to stay out of House and Imperial politics now. Mage Guild politics are a small worry, but other than that, I just want to stay home and be at peace."

Caius lifted the hood of his black cloak and pulled it over his head to protect his ears from the nip of the light wind. "I heard about your marriage to an altmer battlemage from Cyrodiil. Congratulations."

She was caught slightly off-guard by his acknowledgment of the personal event. "Thank you. Do you know him? His family is one of the altmer houses that live in Imperial City."

"I don't know him, but I know _of_ him. Talvalo of Shalonethyr, isn't it? What's his position on all of this? Does he feel that Morrowind should remain part of the Empire, or be returned to complete rule by the dunmer? There are many issues at stake either way, including Morrowind's continued practice of slavery against the Empire's wishes."

"He doesn't care one way or the other."

"He should. You both should. Your new keep is on Morrowind soil, but if the dunmer revolt and force all decedents of Outlanders back to their homelands, Talvalo could be forced to return to Cyrodiil."

"It's an island, not a keep," she answered with increasing annoyance.

"And yet you have walls around it and people guarding it."

"For my own safety, not for building political strength."

"To everyone else, it looks like you're building strength, separating yourself, gathering loyal guards, training horses for war, gleaning mages to take over the Vvardenfell Guild …"

"I'm not doing any of those things." Chizrae stopped walking and faced him with a frown. "How do you know all this?"

Caius came to a halt as well. "As a former Blades agent, you have to ask?"

"They've already set their filthy spies on me, haven't they?"

"Actually, I found out all of this myself," he confessed. She started to get angry, but he held up a hand to interrupt her before she could start. "I wanted to see how you were doing. I wanted to see for myself what's making the Empire so nervous. You say you are not building strength against the Empire, but what are you protecting yourself from, if not from them? Do you see how easy it is for them to read your behavior as a threat? You are gaining popularity because the prophecy promised to free Morrowind from the Empire at a time when things are already getting shaky in Imperial City."

The drow's eyes narrowed slightly. "Shaky?"

The Spymaster sighed and avoided answering that. "Can I give you some advice? Blade-to-blade? Friend-to-friend?"

"I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't; so, you might as well."

The seasoned Blades agent could see that she wasn't going to like it, but he had to try anyway. "As a _friend_, ... I think you should consider moving on to some other place. Go back to your own world. Or, go explore a new one, if that's possible."

"I don't want to move on. Morrowind is my home now."

"And I'm glad to hear you say that, but Morrowind isn't a _good_ home for you anymore, Chizrae."

The drowess's white brows dipped in insult. "I am _not_ leaving Morrowind. The Empire _owes_ it to me to let me stay, after what I went through for them. I had to go into Red Mountain all alone while the rest of the Empire sat on their asses like a bunch of lazy cowards!"

"You know the Empire couldn't send an army in with you because that would have offended the Ashlanders and their Nerevarine Prophecy. But you're not _hearing_ what I'm _saying_," he firmly responded and glanced around to see if anyone seemed to be eavesdropping on their meeting, since they had stopped walking and her voice was gaining volume with her anger. "Things ... aren't ... _well_."

It finally dawned on the drow that this was not a political argument. It was a warning - a hint. Her eyes narrowed and she stepped closer to him. "_What_ do you know?"

He lowered his voice and spoke with deliberate care. "You've earned my respect for enduring what we put you through. A part of me can't help but believe you really are the Nerevarine. But whether it's true or not, the eyes of the Empire are not the _only_ ones watching you anymore."

"Who else is watching me, Caius?"

"I've said all I can say without being branded for treason. Chizrae, my dear, take a friend's advice. Flee Tamriel, ... while you still can." The Spymaster gave her hand a sympathetic pat, and then turned and walked away.


	13. Chapter 13: Foul Play

Chapter 13: Foul Play

The clock's pendulum and the fire's crackle nearly lulled the drow to sleep as she stared at the letter given to her the day before by Skink-in-Tree's-Shade, the Sadrith Mora Mage Guild argonian steward. The letter was from Ocato of the Arch-magister Council - his recommendation promoting her to the rank of Arch-mage of the Vvardenfell guild. The problem was she had to deliver it to Trebonius Artorius, the current Arch-mage. And she wasn't sure what to think of the Empire offering her the coveted position. Was it an honest promotion for her effort, or were they just trying to keep an eye on her, like when they cornered her into joining the Blades? Had she been offered such a position of rank in Menzoberranzan, she would have jumped at it, but now she wasn't sure she wanted to take the bait. And the thought of trying to work with a demoted Trebonius was downright depressing.

As she continued to dread her decision, Talvalo, Jiub, and Elgian came up from the lower level, after having done some minor maintenance on weapons and armor in the display room. It occurred to her that Talvalo and Jiub seemed to be getting along better recently, but she supposed it was due to the fact that they didn't see other much anymore. Guests were starting to come to the inn, so Talvalo spent his mornings there, his afternoons with the horses, and his nights with her. Jiub spent his days checking up on suspicious activities in the region and setting various traps around the property to secure guests and residents from outside threats, especially in the wake of rumors that a Sixth House shrine had been discovered in one of the nearby bog caverns on the east route to Ebonheart. Elgian remained rather indifferent to both of them. The temperamental weapons master was more about action than words, but he and Talvalo continued to have stern words over the subject of training the horses for combat. Surprised that the three of them were working together on a project, Chizrae was amused to imagine their display room conversations - or lack thereof.

Surprised to see her still awake, Talvalo stopped behind her at the desk. "I thought you said you were going to bed early tonight."

"I was, but ... I can't get this off of my mind." She noticed he was holding a cloth over his left hand, and that it appeared to be spotted with blood. "What did you do to yourself?"

"Sliced my hand on Spider Bite trying to take a whetstone to it. The enchantments on that damned sword are so thick that it practically sucks flesh into it."

"I told him enchanted weapons needed to be repaired by a professional, so he should take it to Bren. He said he could handle it," Elgian informed her, throwing the other altmer a flat told-you-so glance.

Talvalo made a face at the weapon master's tone. "I wasn't repairing; I was maintaining. I do happen to be a professional with a sword, you know. I just don't brandish it about all the time like you do." He turned his attention back to Chizrae and the letter in her hand. "Still undecided?"

"Yes."

"Well, as a member of the Mage Guild, I think you should do it. You've mastered destructive and restorative magics, ... and let's not forget how well you handle the schools of alteration, illusion, and conjuration. You deserve this promotion. You're persistent, intelligent, assertive, … sexy …"

The drow's chin tilted up in question of his reasoning.

"Well, okay, maybe that's not one of the requirements, but it's a personal favorite of mine," he added with a sly smile. "Look at it this way. You certainly can't do any worse than Trebonius."

The drowess sighed and set the letter on the desk. "Nerevarine _and_ Arch-mage? I've already got the Empire breathing down my neck as it is. To rise to Arch-mage in the guild as well …"

"They wouldn't have promoted you if they didn't want you to have the position."

"Which is exactly why I'm hesitant to take it."

"If they're using it to keep tabs on you, prove their suspicions are wrong. Show them you have no intention of starting some kind of epic Morrowind rebellion against the Empire."

"Everything I've done to put their suspicions to rest has only increased them." She rubbed her eyes. "I'm almost positive this is just another attempt to keep me under surveillance."

Talvalo sighed at seeing her stressed about the matter. "Well, … do what you think is best. You have my vote either way. Don't stay up all night worrying about it, though. That won't accomplish anything." He gave her shoulder a light rub and kissed the top of her head. "I'm going to wash up. If you're still fretting over it when I'm done, I'm coming back down here to carry you upstairs myself." He untied the neck of his shirt and pulled it off over his head, careful not to stain it with the blood from the cut on his hand. Flipping the shirt over his shoulder to hide the Sea Wolf tattoo from Elgian, he faced Jiub. "Are you taking those glass daggers to Creeper tomorrow?"

"Yeah." The dunmer's eyes fell on the wolf fang that glowed with subtle magic at the base of the altmer's throat. "Nice necklace."

The odd compliment caught Talvalo off-guard for a moment, but then he nodded in acknowledgment without further comment. "Then I'll take the items needing major repairs to Bren."

"As long as there are a few mundane weapons and armor left for training," Elgian spoke.

Talvalo nodded and headed for the stairs. "Well, goodnight, then."

"I'd better be going, too," Elgian told Chizrae. "See you tomorrow at the regular time."

"Oh, I ... might not be training tomorrow," she answered. "I need to take care of this matter with Mage Guild, so I'll be going to Vivec."

"Well, good luck with that, then. I guess I'll see you at dinner, instead. Goodnight." Elgian grabbed his cloak and gloves from the antechamber and let himself out the front door.

Jiub watched as both gold elves left, then moved to the dresser to grab his own cloak and gloves. "I suppose I should be going, too. I didn't expect to spend all night preparing for a trip to Caldera, but you had more excess baggage piled up than I thought you would. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, right?"

Chizrae stood from her desk and blew out the candle. Rubbing her arms, she moved to check the dying fire one last time before bed.

"You know I think Red Mountain was easier for you than this ordeal with the Mage Guild," he commented as he pulled on his outerwear.

"I ran into Caius in Balmora yesterday."

Jiub paused in surprise and joined her at the hearth. "Long way from Imperial City."

"They gave him an assignment here. I suspect that assignment is me again, only this time, I'm not invited to the party. He said the Empire was nervous."

"Well, you've been saying that all along. That's why you bought this place - to secure some privacy."

"Yes, but ..." The drow stared absently at the glowing embers in the grate. "He said the Empire's eyes weren't the only ones watching me, so now I can't help wondering who else is spying on me. What would they gain from it?"

The head of house security took this information seriously and his expression became grim. "He didn't say who it was?"

"No, but he reminded me that if a revolt occurs, Talvalo will become targeted for expulsion like anyone else that is not of native origin."

"Well, I may be dunmer, but I was born and raised in Bravil. I came here in a prison ship from Imperial City just like you. Does that make me an Outlander targeted for expulsion? Or am I safe because I'm a dark elf like you. Ironic, isn't it? The Empire is afraid that their own dark elven Outlander will prophetically turn against other Outlanders to free the dark elves of Morrowind from them. You might even say they enslaved you so that you would help them keep the rest of the province enslaved."

"I'm not going to turn against anyone," she answered his musing with a sharp frown. "But if there happens to be any kind of rebellion, _I'm_ going to be blamed for it. And a tall gold elf in Imperial armor makes an easy target for loyalists and rebels alike. They will use him against me, Jiub."

"You mean if they haven't already? He could still be one of their spies, you know. Maybe he's the one Caius tried to warn you about. If anything happened to you, he would be sole owner of everything on this estate. No one else has so much to gain when the Emperor finally gives the command to be be rid of you."

Chizrae faced the fireplace rather than touching this old argument again. "I can think of at least _one_ other person. Trebonius Artorius is a foolish half-wit when it comes to magical scholarship and leadership, but he enjoys his position of power. There's no logical reason for them to keep him after they promote me, unless it's to act as a spy for the Empire within the Vvardenfell guild."

"Strong accusations. Can you back them up?"

"No." The drow shook her head. "But Caius told me to flee Tamriel while I still could - not just Morrowind - Tamriel. Only the Empire could do that kind of large-scale man-hunt, so whoever the second party is, they're being backed by the Empire. Who else could it be but the Mages Guild? Mage guilds are scattered all over Tamriel."

Jiub considered the possibility behind her reasoning. "Well, just a thought, but ... the Tribunal could also possibly pull something together like that, if they wanted to. You know their secrets now. Maybe they fear they are next on Nerevar's blacklist, since they had a hand in his murder."

The drow snorted. "Depending on which account of his death you choose to believe, you mean."

"You know what they say about a grain of truth being found in every fiction. Maybe there is something in each account worth noting."

"Indoril Nerevar ... How I wish I'd never heard his name. It's a shame he can't show up to release me from _his_ prophecy and these stupid suspicions of rebellion. What would he do in this position, I wonder?"

Jiub quirked a brow at the drow's unintentional placement of herself in the great general's position to solve her problem. "Keep thinking like that, and you _will _continue to raise everyone's hackles. If you're wanting to avoid the mantle of the Nerevarine, I suggest you do something he _wouldn't _do."

Chizrae's crimson eyes cut toward him in a slitted, side-long glance. "Run away?"

Jiub drew closer until she could feel his breath hot against her neck. "Take control of the threat, instead of allowing others to conspire against you," he advised in a low voice. "Get rid of Trebonius in a manner that frees you from his retribution, and claim your rightful promotion as the new leader."

It did not stun Chizrae to hear what Jiub was suggesting. "I will not kill Trebonius just for the sake of rising to his rank," she whispered back. "That is what my brother did to me."

"Oh, that's right. You're a _reformed _drow," he answered, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Well, I may not be a member of the Mage Guild, but I have eyes and ears, Chiz. And I think it's a very interesting coincidence that you ended up with Trebonius's rare amulet and staff after all of the Telvanni counselors were assassinated in their chambers."

Chizrae couldn't deny what he was implying. "Trebonius was furious that the Telvanni masters had set a spy right under his nose. In his embarrassment for not noticing sooner, he wanted to teach them a lesson about keeping their noses to themselves. It was a secret assignment of his own design, rather than for the good of the guild, and it's a perfect example of why I think he'll turn on me if I show him that letter."

"But you've received orders from other stewards to kill members because they don't pay dues or they're rumored to practice necromancy. In other words, you could say it's a _normal_ thing for the guild to eliminate members, as long as it's in the best interest of the guild. If you get rid of Trebonius and take the promotion, you can make it harder for the Empire to use the guild against you, while making it easier on yourself to set spies on them, ... should it come to that."

Chizrae stared hard at the lighter-skinned dark elf. "You just don't get it, do you? It will _look _like a grab for rank and power if he dies at a time when I rise to his status. _That_ is what I'm trying to avoid in the eyes of the Empire and whoever else is watching."

"But if you raise suspicions _no matter_ what you do, then you might as well have the advantage of rank and power. Do what you have to do to protect yourself." Juib pulled his hood over his smooth head. "Just a suggestion from your head of security." Pulling his cloak around himself, the dunmer let himself out.

The drowess returned to the letter on the desk, reading it one more time before folding it away into a small letterbox. Still thinking about the decision she would have to make, she headed upstairs and sat down at the desk opposite her bed. Staring down at Talvalo's writing supplies and journal, she tapped a finger on the wolf figurine's nose.

After awhile, Talvalo returned from the bath and was examining his cut, now that it had stopped bleeding. "Do we still have any bottles of bargain healing potion lying about? It shouldn't take much to close this up, so I don't want to waste the expensive stuff, but it's going to be a pain in the ass to try to do everything with one hand out of commission tomorrow."

Chin in hand, Chizrae turned her head to look at him. Caius's inclusion of Talvalo in the _conundrum_ of Empire and Nerevarine events troubled her as much as the conundrum itself. "I sold them to Ajira at the Balmora guild yesterday. Let me see your hand."

Talvalo checked the tucked-in corner of the emerald green towel at his waist and padded across the floor to where she sat at the desk. "That is one nasty sword you have. I want one just like it," he quipped as he presented the wound.

It was enough to make Chizrae smile as she examined the cut. It wasn't bad, but it was big enough that healing on its own would be an inconvenience and risk infection. She used her restorative magic to mend the skin and then took his hand in hers. "If you were an Imperial spy, you'd tell me, right?"

"I've always been honest with you, haven't I? In a roundabout sort of way …"

"That's not an answer. _Are_ you an Imperial spy?"

"I am not an Imperial spy," he assured her.

"If you were a Mage Guild spy, would you tell me?"

He crouched just below her eye level, taking her hand in both of his. "I'm not a Mage Guild spy. In fact, I'll save you the trouble of whatever you were going to ask next and tell you I'm not _any _kind of spy. Nobody's going to hire someone like me to be their spy. Well, except for you ... that is. I'm _your_ spy, remember? Your secret, stealthy, shadowy weapon - sharp as a tack to gossip on these grounds except for three days a month when forced to sit in a cage in the middle of nowhere like some dumb mutt put out to do his business." He was mildly humored by the odd topic. "By the way, I caught Aria putting poison on Mia's chokeweed section of the garden the other day. She said the leaves were becoming infested with parasites and made me promise not to tell Mia. So, there you go - something secret is going on."

Chizrae smirked at the pitiful report. "You're not a very good spy. That's even more pathetic than when I hired you as a body guard."

"Well, maybe there's nothing for me to spy about, and you're just being paranoid again."

Chizrae sighed heavily. "I wish I was. I ran into my former Blades trainer in Balmora yesterday. He said that someone other than the Empire was watching me, but I have reason to believe the Empire is _behind _whoever the second party is. And I have reason to believe the second party might be the Mage Guild." Her attention shifted to his wolf-tooth necklace. The way Jiub took note of it earlier had made her uncomfortable. "Speaking of being paranoid, I don't think you should wear the calming charm anymore."

He looked down at the charm, surprised that she would say that. "I might not be safe without it."

"If anyone were to recognize it as the same charm that Loki wears and realize our camping trips are always scheduled for full moons …"

"Okay. I guess I don't really need it until then." He removed the charm from his neck. "You still have the domination charm, right?" He stood and moved toward his small jewelry chest on the book shelves.

"Yes." Chizrae blew out the two candles at the desk and moved through the darkness to stand behind him. Placing her palms on his back, she pressed them flat against his skin for a second, then lifted them to smile at the orange-white prints left on a red and violet background.

"I'm not a canvas for your imaginary paints, you know."

"They're not imaginary if I can really see them. It's one of the few games I remember playing as a child. Can you guess what it is?" Holding a fist to his back for a few seconds, she warmed the cool, damp skin beneath it, then added a few dots at the top with her pinky.

"It's a fist."

"It's footprint."

"Of course it is. Because you're so good at grinding the boot into my back after you crack the whip." After placing the charm safely in storage, he turned to face her.

"I remember good things when I'm with you. Maybe that is why."

He folded her to his chest. "Why ... what?" he prompted her to finish explaining whatever she meant to say.

Head to his heart, Chizrae stood silently for a long moment. _Why I want to be with you. Why I must do what I can to keep you here with me. _"Whatever happens with the guild and the Empire, ... I want you to know that ... I have enjoyed my alliance with you, Talvalo."

He tried not to smile at her discomfort with sentiment. After all, the discomfort wasn't supposed to overshadow the remarkable fact that she was even displaying sentiment. "I alliance you, too," he assured her with a kiss.

))((

The following morning, Chizrae saddled up for her first road trip alone on one of the horses. She traveled on Comet to Vivec by way of the road to Ebonheart. She didn't want to have to walk the horse all the way to the top plaza where the Mage Guild was located, but she was hesitant to leave the prized animal behind. While trying to think of a solution, she noticed some children playing on the grounds nearby. "Excuse me," she called to one of the bosmer boys, pulling five septims from her coin purse and holding it for him to see as he came near. "Would you be interested in watching my horse for a short while? There's five more where these came from if he's still here when I return."

"Sure!" the boy eagerly held out his hands to receive the money. "What's his name?"

"Comet. You can pet him, but don't ride him. If I catch anyone riding him, I'll take back my five septims, … along with five fingers," she added with a thin smile.

The boy paled slightly and nodded in firm understanding of their contract, as one of the other boys joined them. "Mom said we're not supposed to talk to strangers."

"She's not a stranger." Another child joined them - a younger dunmer boy. "Hey, I know who you are! You're the Nerevarine! My dad told me about you. I asked him if he'd ever been to Red Mountain to kill some monsters, and he said he didn't need to. He said an elf with pitch black skin had already killed all the monsters at Red Mountain." The boy scratched his head. "Uhhh, ... he didn't say anything about you being a girl, though."

The drow registered a dry smile. "I left a few for your dad to go finish off. I think you should insist that he take you camping beyond the ghost gate sometime soon. If you hurry, you can catch them before their skin rots off."

"Gross! That's so cool! Wait 'till I tell my dad we can still go monster hunting!" the dunmer boy shouted in excitement to the others.

Satisfied at having made the kid's day while also letting a little air out of his father's puffed chest, Chizrae collected her personal items from the saddle bags. "I'll be at the Mage Guild if I'm needed. Do you know where that is?" she asked of the boy she had hired to watch the horse.

"Top of the Foreign Quarter canton. My big sister is an apprentice there."

"If anyone hurts you," she told the horse as she gave him a carrot and a final pat, "you have my permission to kick them where they'll remember it for the rest of their lives." Then, she moved him to stand in a grassy patch under an orange-leafed maple and headed across the bridge to the Foreign Quarter canton.

))((

Inside the guild, the drow headed straight down the stairs of the main hall to look for Arch-mage Trebonius. She found him in his usual place, standing about doing his usual nothing. He was conversing with a pretty, young bosmer - obviously the elder sister of the boy watching her horse - but Chizrae knew that interrupting their chat would be more of a detriment to his flirting than anything related to actual tasks. "A word with you, Trebonius," she announced as she marched toward him.

"Ah, Chizrae. What brings you here today, Master Wizard?"

"I am ready for my next promotion."

Trebonius chuckled as if a naïve child had just asked a rather simplistic question. "My dear, I would love nothing more than to promote you, but the only position left is mine."

The drow lifted her chin and folded her arms in a reserved manner. "I've earned that promotion, and I will have it - one way or another."

Trebonius took note of the fact that beneath her heavy cloak, she was wearing a polished suit of purple and silver armor, instead of the sultry gowns that she usually wore when she visited. "Well, I guess I should have seen this coming." His expression darkened. "Your quick rise through the ranks of the guild could only mean that you lust for my power."

Chizrae's lips curled in a mixture of humor and disgust as she strolled casually closer and whispered to his ear. "I wouldn't lust for anything you have if you were the last man in Tamriel."

The Arch-mage's composure hardened into a grim frown. "Don't think that because you are the Nerevarine, you can get away with mocking me!"

Her eyes narrowed, noticing for the first time that all the other mages in the guildhall were staring. The drowess decided to use the gawking on-lookers to send a message to any Imperial spies among them. "Don't mistake rejection for mockery, Trebonius. I'm sure you're familiar enough with both to discern the difference by now," she coolly retorted. "Very few people are happy with the way you've been running the guild. Not even your stewards support you. Are you even aware of that? I don't know how you came to be Arch-mage, but I'm going to assume it had something to do with ass-kissing the right people. Ocato wants me to clean things up around here, … with or without you."

Trebonius's eyes narrowed in return. "Meet me at the arena, then. We'll have a wizard's battle. _Survivor_ takes the title."

Chizrae wondered if now would be a good time to mention that Ocato's letter had already promoted her so there was no _need_ for a duel. If she showed Trebonius the letter and he peacefully stepped down, he could remain in the guild indefinitely. If she fought a public duel and won, it would be a chance to get rid of him in a challenge _he_ initiated. If she lost the duel, of course, ... she would die. Her talk with Jiub the night before began to whisper to her drowish nature. "I'll be there at the sun's height." Turning on her heel, the drow accepted his challenge and left with a cat-like smile. She was half-tempted to shred the letter into bits and cast it to the wind, but Ocato's signature might come in handy someday.

))((

Inside the grand doors of the plaza, Chizrae approached the arena pit from the spectator area above it. Trebonius was already standing on the far side below, ... waiting. The crowd wasn't very large because it was the middle of the day, but word had spread that the Arch-mage had challenged the Nerevarine to a dual, thanks to the mages of the guildhall. As she watched people filing in to watch the spectacle of the blood sport, the drow reflected that in many ways these surface races were not unlike her own.

Shrugging off her hesitation, she chose a short cut to the battle ground and climbed onto the wall that rimmed the upper level of the pit. "Trebonius!" she called to him, crouching to maintain her balance on the precarious perch. It had been tempting to sneak into the pit unannounced, but she realized that might not qualify among the surface races as being very sporting about it.

He turned toward the source of his name and looked up at her with a scowl. "Are you going to come down here and fight, or are you going to hide up there like a treed cat?" Without waiting for her to enter the pit and receive a formal introduction, he began reciting an incantation and raised his hands.

Lightning hit the wall just below her feet, so that she had to leap to avoid it. "Impatient, _wael_!" He wanted to play that way? The drow cloaked herself in a chameleon spell.

The small crowd had started to cheer Trebonius on in his grand display of pyrotechnics, but then gasped in surprise as his opponent disappeared.

Instead of attempting to dispel her cloaking magic, Trebonius cast explosive spells at the wall where he detected vague blurs of movement as she hopped over the ledge. Chizrae used her slow fall charm to land safely on the ground below. While Trebonius fluctuated between losing her and trying to keep those motion blurs in sight, the drowess ran behind him and cast a spell to levitate high above him. Trebonius turned in the direction where he'd heard the sand shift under her boots - where her voice echoed in the weave of magic as she cast her spell - and cast a fireball in her direction. But the drowess lifted herself out of its path to let it strike through the dodging, screaming spectators instead.

The drow conjured two greater fireballs, one in each hand, then flung them at him in rapid succession. When Trebonius fell to one knee, she dropped toward the arena pit and cast one more spell to conjure a deadric longsword into her hands. As her toes touched ground and her chameleon spell wore off, she sprang forward to deliver her final attack - a backhanded swing full of momentum that ended his reign as Arch-mage, along with his life.

The spectators above the pit cheered for her cunning defeat. No one seemed upset at the former Arch-mage's passing, though many of the guild members present seemed stunned at how quickly the drow dispatched her former superior.

Chizrae crouched at the Archmage's severed head. "You should not have been so quick to flirt with death, Trebonius. I would have showed you the letter, ... if you had only known to ask." As the arena workers came out to collect the body, she looked up to the cheering spectators. There was no turning back now. The Outlander dark elf of the Nerevarine Prophecy had just become the new Arch-mage of Vvardenfell.

Ignoring the fanfare, she levitated up and out of the pit. Spectators parted to let her and her bloodied sword pass without interference. Even the ordinators had to let her pass without arrest for the murder of her predecessor. The conjured blade disappeared as she walked back to her new office in the Vivec guildhall, but the blood stains on her hands and armor remained. She planned to immediately begin reorganizing the tasks Trebonius left unattended - to make good on the Empire's recommendation for her promotion. But she refused to be the mouse in their cat-and-mouse game this time.

))((

_(Three months later ...)_

Winter settled over southern Vvardenfell in its usual fashion with cold rain, barren trees, and gray skies. Mysthaven was not immune to the bleak change in scenery. In fact, it soon became apparent how the thick blanket of mist that shrouded the secluded island daily must have been the inspiration for the manor's name. There would be no snow in the vicinity of Seyda Neen. There never was. But winter had come to Mysthaven all the same. The summer flowers had faded. The gardens had been harvested. Herbs, roots, berries, and grains had been sorted and stored according to their nutritional or alchemical uses. Seeds were left to rest in red clay pots in the tool shed, waiting for spring. The only outdoor activity going on now involved riding lessons and horseback combat training.

As the Ashlandi snorted a white cloud of mist and nibbled at the stack of hay that was part of the target board set up for Chizrae's practices, Elgian picked up the rings at the horse's feet and set them back into place on the target board. "You are never going to be able to hit a moving target with a sword if you can't hit a stationary target with a spear. Try again," he corrected her.

"I hit all three rings." The drow frowned and defended her practice as she adjusted her armor and tried to blow some warmth into her freezing fingers through her gloves.

"They were glancing blows that wouldn't even pierce netch leather. I want to see that spear pierce so deep that it gets stuck."

"If it gets stuck, how am I supposed to pull it back out to hit all three rings?"

"The hit and release needs to be punched and pulled with equal strength. Don't release the power after you've pulled it back out. And besides that, you've got to command the horse to remain on target or you won't have time for the hits. Too fast - you miss, your back becomes the target, you die. Too slow - your horse could get pinned, you could get pinned, you die. Okay? Advance, target, punch, pull - three times without slacking off - then evade."

"Isn't one punch enough?" she complained.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so. You're an elf, not a human. I expect you to fight like an elf. You have superior speed and agility on foot. Don't waste it here."

"I'm not on foot. I'm on a horse - a very _big_ horse that is very _high_ off of the ground," the drow reminded him with a sour expression. "In fact, I'm having trouble steering the damned thing toward the target at the right speed. He keeps veering to the right away from it and going too fast when we get close."

"Not my problem. Either you draw the horse up to the target the right way, or you face the consequences. Now, try again." Elgian picked up the staff he had been working with and positioned himself by the target board to wait for her next attempt.

Chizrae snarled at the gold elf's insistence on perfection, but then reminded herself that was why she hired him as her personal trainer. Grasping the Ashlandi's reins, she turned the animal around and walked it back to the starting point of her joust.

))((

At the other end of the island, Talvalo came out of the inn with his account book, registry, and coin box in his arms. It was just beginning to sprinkle again, so he flicked his scarf over his mouth and nose and adjusted the hood of his cloak over his head.

"Talvalo!" The friendly call from Olin drew his attention toward the guest houses where the priest and his wife were walking together, heading in the same direction.

"Messy weather for a walk, isn't it?" he greeted them as he turned his path toward theirs.

"Dreadful," Shazi agreed. "We weren't going for a walk, though. We were coming to visit you. I needed to do some enchantment experiments in the alchemy lab, and they may take awhile. Would you and Chizrae mind if I stayed a bit late?"

"Help yourself. That's what it's there for."

"I really wish I had my own lab so that I wouldn't have to keep pestering you for yours, but it is the only one on this island at the moment. Maybe someday there will be add-ons?"

Talvalo chuckled at her suggestion. "I'll add it to the wish list. First, I have to pay what I owe my brother. Then, there's the boat for ferrying the horses, and the new stables ... Fortunately, Chizrae's ventures with the Mage Guild have been very successful of late, and the inn is operating regularly now with about three guests a week. I'm able to set aside about two hundred to four hundred septims a week toward Aridis's fund, so hopefully it won't be too long before we can begin investing in something besides him." As they walked together, the three of them entered the manor home's grounds where Chizrae was training and paused to watch her set up for her run.

"She's taken to riding quite easily, considering she's been doing it less than a year," Olin commented.

"Well, she used to ride giant lizards before this. Once I found that out, it was easy to transfer some of that experience to horses. Apparently, the giant lizards of her native environment were capable of running up the walls and ceilings of underground caverns - not like those fat, lazy pack guar we have loping about our towns. Her native lizards were also predatory carnivores, so they would attack on instinct and command. She likes that horses are bigger and stronger, but she's not crazy about their timid nature or the fact that they run so fast in wide-open spaces. After living in caverns most of her life, she's still not comfortable with not having options to hide - bit like a rabbit under a wide-open sky waiting for a hawk." Talvalo's faced scrunched in thought. "Although, Chizrae's not very like a rabbit, is she? She's more likely to eat one … raw."

Olin gave him a questionable glance, but then laughed lightly. "Such an interesting place she hailed from. No wonder she's, … you know, … the way she is."

"Well, she wasn't a combat rider in the Underdark, so that's another thing that's giving her grief. She's a good rider and a good swordsman, but combining the skills is a challenge."

"I was wondering. I did a quest with Chizrae some time back to help her clear out a Sixth House cavern with some of the others. Do you think she would return the favor of aiding me with a quest?"

"I'm sure she would. What does it involve? Maybe I could go with you, too. Been about six months since I've done anything in the mercenary venture. Have to admit I rather miss it, … in a twisted, self-torturous kind of way."

"Well, a friend of mine at the Imperial Chapel in Ebonheart has asked me to help recover the Silver Staff of Shaming. It once belonged to an acolyte named Linus Iulus, and the Oracle recently had a dream of the staff lying amid burning rock in the shadow of a Mountain of Fear. We believe this means a cavern somewhere near Mount Kand in Molag Mar. It would be a dangerous quest, and I hate to say it, but when danger is about, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have in front of me than her." He chuckled at his own statement. "That sounds quite cowardly, doesn't it?"

Talvalo chuckled with him. "Not at all. I learned the hard way not to step in front of her when she's got a sword in her hands. However, she's more likely to shove _you _in front to be _her_ shield. You never know with her. She's as unpredictable as the weather." He smiled, proudly realizing he'd survived being married to the drow for six months now.

"Isn't that a bit humbling for you?" Shazi spoke with a teasing tone.

Talvalo shrugged with an easy laugh. "She's got quicker reflexes and a better blade than I do, and my ego was humbled long before I met her."

"That's quite a statement coming from another elf," Olin chuckled again.

"Yes, it is," Talvalo agreed with a grin. "She's terribly lightweight, though, and that has its disadvantages in terms of strength and sheer presence - hence the enchanted sword to compensate. Quick kills are the name of the game for her because she simply wouldn't last hacking away at something twice her size."

"It would take a special opponent to best her, wouldn't it?" Shazi mused. "Someone just as physically, magically, _and_ strategically gifted."

_Or a werewolf …_ Talvalo considered his own attack on her sixth months ago, ... and how he nearly won. "Probably, yes," he quietly agreed as the drow at her Ashlandi raced past the trio and hit the target board with force.

"_Iblith_!" she yelled, angry at getting the spear stuck again.

Not allowing her time to lament her mistake, Elgian surprised her by grasping her extended arm and hitting the horse with his staff. The startled horse whinnied and bolted in the opposite direction, but Chizrae was pulled out of her saddle in a brutal manner and hit the ground in a hard tumble.

"What the hell? What is he doing?" Talvalo tucked his items securely under his arm and jogged to where his wife and her trainer were locked in combat. "What the hell did you just do?" he demanded of Elgian.

Elgian ignored him and used the staff to catch the drowess under the chin. Chizrae grasped the staff and drew in her knees, slamming her feet into the trainer's head, toppling him to the ground beside her. He pushed her off, but she rolled to the side and drew the glass dagger at her belt to stab toward his throat. Elgian blocked her strike with the staff, then spun it to knock the dagger from her hand. Chizrae used his distraction with disarming her to punch the heel of her empty hand toward the base of his throat, but she halted her action inches away from doing actual damage. "Kill!" she cried out and held her position for him to affirm her victory as she caught her breath.

"Kill conceded," Elgian surrendered. "Good job, ... but you still didn't hit your target, and I managed to unhorse you," he scolded.

"You hit the horse." Talvalo angrily moved in on Elgian, now that their grappling match was done.

Elgian rolled his eyes at Talvalo's complaint. "It was just a wooden staff - not a blade - and I didn't hit it hard. You think a bandit's going to be that forgiving?"

"I don't give a damn what a bandit would do, _you_ will not hit my horses! There are better ways to teach them evasion."

"Then I suggest you teach them to evade my staff," Elgian answered in a cutting tone. "The horse is fine."

"He's not fine! Didn't you see the whites of his eyes and how his ears flattened when you attacked him like that? One hit is all it takes to spook a horse's memory for a long time! They're smart creatures. They remember how they're treated."

"You sound more concerned about the horse than your wife," Elgian gruffed.

"Chizrae can kick any ass she pleases - including yours. That horse is not used to being attacked by a trainer, and Order or not, I'll be damned if I'll let you hit him like that again." Talvalo gave a whistle attempting to call the horse to him. "You want to try the same stunt with me?"

"You've been holding back on me because of the Order?" Elgian's eyes narrowed. "Bring it."

As the drow stood and wiped the mud from her pants and gloves, the Ashlandi answered the whistle and hesitantly came back to their circle, shying away from Elgian. Talvalo thrust his books and coin box into Chizrae's arms, grasped the reins, and pulled himself into the saddle. Then, turning the horse around, he rode it back to the starting point of the training runs.

))((

Chizrae blinked in surprise as Talvalo rode away. She'd never seen him get that angry before - not over anything. "Elgian, … what Order?" she asked, looking to her trainer with suspicion.

"Later." He readied the staff to teach his fellow altmer a lesson.

Chizrae's brow lifted at the attitude packed into that answer, but she chose not to remind him that he answered to her - not the other way around - because Talvalo was racing full speed toward the target board.

As he drew near and Elgian readied to unhorse him, Talvalo gave two short-toned whistles. The Ashlandi bucked around with a brusk whinney and kicked Elgian back into the target board. Before he could recover, Talvalo quickly turned the horse forward to stand over him where he lay on the ground. The horse hesitantly lifted a front hoof a few times, but then put it down again as it nervously shifted its stance, … waiting. "If you were a bandit, my next command would be for him to crush your skull. Should I give the command, or should I be forgiving for the sake of a practice session?"

Elgian winced and rubbed his chest. "Bastard. You could have broken my ribs!"

Talvalo dismounted and scratched the horse's withers in attempt to calm it, but then he got in Elgian's face as the other altmer stood. "If you hit one of my horses like that again, I'll take it out of your skin with my bare hands. Got it? No more of this kind of training without me present to supervise how you treat the horses." He took the horse's reins and turned it around. "Sorry, Chiz," he apologized to her for losing his temper during her practice session and then walked the horse away to remove its tackle.

Elgian bitterly bent to pick up the staff and rubbed his chest again.

"Are you okay?" Chizrae asked him.

"No. I'm going to have a damned black and blue horseshoe on my chest now."

"I can heal -"

"No. Don't. Just ... don't." Elgian brushed past her before she could touch him and headed back to his quarters.

Chizrae was at a loss what to do about the aggression that was building between her trainer and her husband. It was even worse than what existed between him and Jiub now. She turned to Olin and Shazi, noticing their presence for the first time.

Shazi cleared her throat. "I just came to ask if I could use the alchemy lab through late night tonight. Talvalo said it was okay, but I understand if … if he's not himself today … for some reason." Frightened, she glanced in the red-headed altmer's direction.

"I also had a matter to discuss with you, but ... it can wait," Olin explained.

"No, it's …" She glanced toward Talvalo, as well. "It's fine. Go on inside. I'll be there in a minute." The drowess left the couple and headed around the manor home to the other side where Talvalo was already grooming the horse and allowing it to eat.

"I'm sorry I ruined your training session," he repeated as he heard her draw near behind him.

"I didn't know you'd trained Ash to kick on command."

"I've taught him several tricks. He just hasn't been in a real combat situation with them yet. The abrupt contact, the loud noises ... he's not ready for it. Elgian shouldn't have hit him that way. He shouldn't have even told you to use a spear. I would have told you to use magic. The horse can give you the distance you need to prepare the spells for ranged attacks, and then for melee you could leap from the horse and give it a command to go elsewhere, while you fight the battle on the ground with Spider Bite at your best advantage." He brushed the horse with firm strokes, allowing that to be part of venting his frustration. "Look, I'm sorry I blew up about it, but there's good trainers and there's brutal trainers. _He_ is brutal. That sort of abuse is why I had to fire Tance, and if it were up to me I'd fire Elgian, too."

She tilted her chin in curiosity. "Because of how he treats the horse, … or me?"

Talvalo smoothed the Ashlandi's mane with his left hand, then looked at his muddied, exhausted wife as she stood in the mist. "Both. I know I don't let it show very much, but I get nervous for you every time you train with him. I know he's a good challenge for your skills because he's good with any weapon put in his hands, but he's the kind of person that sometimes doesn't know when to back off."

Chizrae stepped closer. "I'll talk to him."

"I don't want you to talk to him. I want him gone."

The drow didn't want to give up her trainer. "Two altmer should have some kind of brotherly bond this far from home, shouldn't they? Is there something I should know about this 'Order' both of you mentioned?"

Talvalo sighed heavily and smoothed the Ashlandi's mane. "I'd hardly call Summerset Isles my home, considering I was born and raised in Cyrodiil. But I've frequented the place and studied there because my parents have family in Alinor. Altmer from the Isles sometimes use tattooing as a form of … record keeping, particularly certain factions. One of Elgian's tattoos indicates that he was at one time connected to the Psyjic Order. I can't imagine he was an initiate because I've never seen him use any kind of mysticism. But he does have the same tight-lipped, monkish qualities as members of the order and their supporting staff. Monks of the Order have been known to ally themselves to mainland lords and alter the flow of destiny or time or whatever they call it. They're like … the Morag Tong, … only more powerful, and they see themselves as the good guys, fixing everything toward a good outcome. If he's a member, I'm surpised he puts up with you and Jiub. Personally, I don't ever want him finding out I used to be a pirate. And I certainly don't want him finding out about the wolf's blood. I'm positive he'd try to report me for my time on the _Sea Wolf,_ … or try to kill me. I don't know what his connection to the Order is or why he's this far from home, but he's outlived his usefulness here, and it's time to send him packing."

Chizrae was troubled by this news. "He's never said anything to me about it."

"The Psyjic Order doesn't say much about itself or its members," he reminded her.

"But you said they form alliances with lords to … alter fate? What are the chances he was sent here to spy on the Nerevarine?"

Talvalo frowned in thought. "I've always assumed he was kicked out. Never occurred to me to consider he might actually have orders to be here following you around."

"Would the Empire hire someone from the Psyjic Order to meddle with the Nerevarine Prophecy?"

Talvalo's frown deepened. "I don't know."

The drow sighed at the thought. "I need to have a talk with Elgian first thing tomorrow morning. He's going to assume you told me all this if I start asking questions about the Order, but I'll steer him away from anything he doesn't need to know." Hooking an arm around his neck, she stood on her toes to kiss him. "You know what? I think that was worth the 200 septims I paid for you. That was a good secret."

"It's not really a secret, and you never paid me that 200 septims."

"No, but I offer you great deal and let you bang my drum," she answered with a somewhat scampy voice.

Talvalo couldn't help but smile at her rather effective impersonation of Creeper. "Was that humor? That's cute. Don't ever do it again. It's disturbing."

She chuckled lightly, pleased with herself for thoroughly disgusting him. "I have to speak with Shazi and Olin. Don't stay out too long. Sun's setting on a cold, rainy night, and I'll be wanting someone to keep me warm after my bath."

"After that scamp thing? Are you kidding me?"

With a smirk, the drow shifted the books and coinbox in her arms and left him to finish taking care of the horses. Along the way, she glanced toward Elgian's cottage beyond the garden. If he truly was a Psyjic Order spy with an interest in the Nerevarine Prophecy, what did they have to gain, or lose, from it?

))((

The drow woke the next morning and rolled over to find Talvalo's half of the bed unexpectedly empty. Making a face of displeasure, she sat up and grabbed her robe. First, she looked out the window to see if he was with the horses. When she didn't see him there, she walked down the hallway to the bath, but he wasn't there either. She went to the desk in their room to see if he had left a note, and then she went downstairs to the kitchen. Frowning to herself, she started to go down to the lower level, when the front door opened and Bodil came in with an Imperial guard. Chizrae's eyes widened at the unexpected guest, and she drew her robe closer around her.

"I'm sorry to barge in on you so early, Chizrae, but ... " Bodil paused for a moment. There was no way to say it, except to just say it. "Elgian's dead."

"_Dead?_"

"He apparently went into Seyda Neen last night and had some drinks at the Tradehouse. But on his way back, he was attacked."

"Attacked? You mean by bandits, or a fight with someone in town?"

"Well," the guard spoke up, "from the looks of it, it was a wild animal."

The drow felt her face grow cold. _Where's Talvalo?_ "What kind of animal?"

"We can't say for sure. He was mauled to death. Something ripped him to shreds."


	14. Chapter 14: Shapeshifters of All Forms

Chapter 14: Shapeshifters of All Forms

Though the temperature was so low it had formed a thin sheet of ice over the large pond behind the manor home, Chizrae chose the outdoor deck as her place to mull things over after the Imperial guard finished interrogating everyone on the island. She had started a fire in the wood-burning stove near the hammock and curled beneath a fur blanket to stay warm, but her chill went deeper than any fire could reach. She was waiting for Talvalo to come home from wherever he had mysteriously disappeared. In her mind, she knew he was the only one who could have killed Elgian in such a manner, but in her heart she tried to think of other possibilities. So, when the back door finally did open, she sat up in anticipation.

"Chizrae?" Selena came onto the deck.

Wrong altmer ... The drow lay back down in disgust and pulled the blanket over herself again.

"I know you're upset with the news of Elgian's death, but ... I was wondering if I could have a word with you about an important matter."

Chizrae shifted her crimson eyes to the other woman and then gestured for Selena to pull one of the chairs near the fire.

"Thank you, but ..." She seemed to not want to get comfortable for whatever kind of discussion she had in mind. "I've given it some thought, and ... I think I'll be leaving Mysthaven tomorrow."

The drow had seen this coming at some point. "Any particular reason?" she asked as a formality, though she already guessed the answer.

"A few, actually. My potions are selling well here, but I had hoped they'd sell a little faster. Since your clientele on the island is rather sparse and Seyda Neen isn't exactly a tourist attraction, I keep thinking that I might do better at a more public inn in a bigger city, perhaps in some place like Mournhold. I think I just prefer cities. This island is a bit too … shrouded."

The drow nodded in acceptance of her decision and reasoning, though she felt the descriptive was more telling. "Have you talked to Talvalo?"

"Yes, but he keeps talking me into staying." She smiled with slight nervousness. "I knew you'd listen without attempting to change my mind." The altmer wrung her hands. "And I want to leave as soon as possible, so I'll be packing my things straight away."

"Elgian's death wouldn't happen to be influencing your decision, would it?" Chizrae guessed. "Because if so, I'll remind you that he was attacked by an unidentified animal on the mainland. This island is perfectly safe."

The alchemist patted the pin that held her long white hair in a tidy bun and glanced over her shoulder toward the door. After a moment of obvious hesitation, she drew closer to the drow and lowered her voice. "It's just that ... I saw something last night. I was heading back to my quarters from the inn, and Jiub was doing his rounds as night watchman, when -" The back door opened again, so she immediately stopped speaking and turned to see who it was.

Talvalo had joined them on the deck. His long, red hair was down about his shoulders and in his face so that not much but his nose and chin could be seen. It was wet, and he was dressed in heavy, loose pajamas, even though he was not in bed this morning. Anyone could tell he had not slept well the night before, if he had slept at all. He looked pale and cold, and in spite of the freezing temperatures, he had muddy, bare feet.

Chizrae frowned and gave a subtle hand-sign message. _"Where have you been?"_

_"Out_," he signed likewise. There was little more he could say without it being obvious that they were secretly conversing.

Selena backed away from Talvalo toward the door. "I think I should go pack my things," she told Chizrae. "I'll come see you before I go." Taking a long look at Talvalo's unusual state of disarray, she quickly excused herself from their company, closing the door behind her.

It was then that Chizrae noticed the tell-tale signs of a fight. His hair had been covering grazing cuts to his forehead and jaw. His hand had been scraped, as if against a hard, rough surface such as rock. She remembered her last mock fight with Elgian, and she could easily imagine which moves the weapon master might have tried during his struggle to escape from a werewolf. She also remembered how ferocious and frightening Talvalo's were-form attack had been the first time she saw it.

))((

"She's leaving?" Talvalo knew he should try to stop her, but he was too fatigued to do anything about it.

"She wants to sell her potions in Mournhold because she thinks business here is too slow. Apparently, you wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, so she came to me, instead." As Talvalo sighed at the bad news, Chizrae pushed off her blanket and stood to face him. "Elgian's dead."

He saw her crimson eyes focus on the calming amulet present beneath the wide neckline of his shirt for the first time in months, but it was too little too late. "I know."

"Talvalo, I know you didn't like him, but how _could_ you?" she hissed in anger, glancing toward the door, windows, and grounds to be sure their conversation wasn't overheard. "How could you stalk him and take him down like that over some stupid argument about the horses? I would have fired him today, if you'd just given me the damn chance! What were you thinking?"

He couldn't say exactly. It was more complicated than that.

"An Imperial guard from Seyda Neen came this morning to investigate. At first, he thought Loki did it and accused me of not keeping a responsible eye on my wolf. But after the interrogations, Shazi and Olin were cornered into admitting that they saw us argue with Elgian yesterday, and that _you _threatened him. And since you were nowhere to be found for questioning, you are now their prime suspect. If they find out what you are -"

Clapping a hand over her mouth to stop her from ranting, Talvalo met her anger with a sudden and severe frown. "Before you accuse me of anything else, I want to know where the domination charm is."

She pushed his hand away from her mouth and drew the sapphire from under the top of her fur-trimmed robe.

His eyes narrowed. "Then you're just as guilty as I am. You promised you'd never use that thing on me."

"What? I did no such thing," she hissed in return.

"I told you I am _not_ that kind of secret weapon," he struggled to keep his voice hushed in spite of his anger.

"I have _never_ used domination magic on you, Talvalo. I gave you my word, and I've kept it. How did you manage to change when it's not a full moon? Can you change _at will_ now, but didn't think I needed to know that?"

"_Nothing_ about this was done at my will!" Distraught, angry, and frustrated, Talvalo moved to stand before the fire and tried to think of other possible explanations. He was grateful he could feel the magic of the calming charm trying to melt his tension. "I'm going to tell you what happened last night, but I don't want you to say anything until I'm done. Okay?"

Chizrae maintained her distance and scowl, but she was listening.

"I couldn't sleep last night and thought reading might help, so I went downstairs to look for something nice and boring in the library. While I was browsing, I noticed one of the Realmsfade books was missing. We have the whole collection now, so the empty space on the shelf was very noticeable. The Balmora book was gone."

"So, you thought Elgian stole it and decided to rip his throat out?" she sardonically asked.

"Let me finish," Talvalo snapped, but then held his temper on a short leash. "Those books cannot be removed without some kind of nullifying magic - one touch and you teleport to the named destination. So, the fact that someone had removed it from the shelf was odd. I went looking for it and found it in the alchemy lab alongside some crushed soul gems and another book that glowed with similar magic. I think someone used the Balmora book to make a copy. I don't know where the new book teleports to because I couldn't read the obscure runes on the cover, but it's gone now - no trace it ever existed, and the Balmora book is back in it's place."

"What does this have to do with Elgian?"

"While I was looking at it, someone hit me from behind and knocked me out cold. But I wasn't completely unconscious after that because I have vague memories of last night - people whispering, someone touching me, the egg mine down the road, Elgian's face ... I have no memory of hunting him down or attacking him, but I was physically sick once I was awake enough to realize what had happened. It was like being consumed with Bloodlust again, only it felt like _someone else's_ hunger." Talvalo's brows rose in plea as he took her hands in his. "Chizrae, you've got to believe me. I didn't like Elgian; I'll admit that. We argued, but that doesn't mean I wanted to kill him. And the only thing I can think of capable of making me do something like that against my will is the domination charm."

"I wouldn't have wanted him killed without being able to question him about his connections to the Psyjic order. You know that. You wanted answers about that, too." She was insulted that he would blame her. "But no one else had issues with Elgian the way you did."

"Jiub didn't like him either."

"Jiub doesn't know about your wolf form."

Talvalo shook his head. "Don't be so sure. He saw the calming charm once and commented on it, as if he recognized what it might be."

"Juib has nothing to gain in killing Elgian. He's like Aridis - a chess player who makes only limited, calculated sacrifices. He's ruled by logic."

"Framing me for murder by forcing me into wereform would be a great strategy for sacrificing me. He's never liked me," he reminded her. "And I think he'd be quite satisfied with himself if he managed to rid of me and Elgian in one shot."

"Even then, he'd have no way of controlling you without stealing my charm."

"Then who else has access to domination magic?"

"Well, … any one of the magic users might, but Shazi's the one that made my charm in the first place. She could make another if she wanted."

"She's probably capable of making enchanted books, too," he pointed out. "I don't know what the connection is, but I don't think I was supposed to see that book."

"But Shazi has no bad feelings against you or Elgian."

"What about Selena?" he suggested next, desperate for some answers. "She thinks I failed at selling her potions."

"Selena has been unhappy, but she's not the type to exact this kind of revenge. Although, … she did act very nervous when you showed up. Did you notice that? She was going to tell me about something she saw last night, but immediately left when you came."

"Doesn't sound likely she'd be controlling me then, … but she might have seen me change." Talvalo was more worried now. "And if she saw me change, maybe she also saw who was using the domination magic. We need to talk to Selena before she leaves."

"Agreed. Bathe and dress first, though," she suggested. "No offense, but you look like hell, and that makes you look even more suspicious. It's bad enough you have no alibi for last night or this morning."

"I could lie about using a Realmsfade book to go watch the sunrise in Vivec, or something, but my teleport key is missing. I think whoever created the new book might have stolen my key to ensure a safe return."

The drow became puzzled. "If someone stole your key, how did you get back on the island unnoticed?"

"I cast a water breathing spell on myself and swam under the gate. Then I cast an invisibility spell and ran to a tree near the house. From there I climbed up the tree and came in through the hidden door on the roof. I was freezing, so I grabbed these from a drawer without showering, but I have no idea where my clothes are from last night. If they're bloody, torn, or anywhere near the egg mine, they can be used as evidence against me."

Chizrae wasn't happy to hear of his successful strategy. "If you could get past security, someone else could, too. Where was Jiub?"

"Apparently not on the job - for which I am grateful, in this case." Talvalo gave a weary sigh and ran a hand through his wet, unkept mane to sweep it from his face as he walked to the rail and leaned on it. Then, folding his arms to stay warm in spite of the drop in temperature away from the fire, he lowered his gaze to the thin layer of ice on the pond beneath them.

The drow drew near to the distraught altmer and leaned on the rail next to him, practically copying his stance, but she held her tongue from further criticism or speculation.

"Please don't lose faith in me just yet," he spoke, breaking the still, winter silence. "I'm wearing the calming charm now, and I won't take it off this time. I will _never _allow this to happen again."

"That's not a promise you can keep if someone else is controlling you. The calming charm will not help you resist domination. It only tranquilizes natural adrenaline rush. Domination magic is mind control of actions, not feelings."

Talvalo looked toward the frozen swamp trees and bittergreen bushes beyond the pond. "Either way, it looks like your secret weapon isn't so secret anymore." A bitterly cold wind swept between them and rang the chimes in the barren branches - a beautiful and soothing song in sharp contrast to the appearance of death in everything else that surrounded them. "If we can't find out who's behind this, I may be used against you next, … unless the Imperial guards find evidence to cage me first."

Chizrae touched his cheek and sought his eyes. Then, she worked her healing magic over the cuts to his face and hands, to protect him from prosecution.

))((

After Talvalo had bathed and changed into warmer clothing of leather and fur, he was ready to speak with Selena and accept the possibility that she may have witnessed his transformation. Right now, she was the only thread to follow in trying to find out what happened. Allowing the calming charm to continue to melt away his anxieties, he went downstairs to the chest of drawers in front of the anteroom and grabbed his cloak and gloves. "Ready?"

Chizrae dropped her quill into the inkwell and stood from her desk. "I've made up a list of potions to purchase from Selena before she leaves. Do you think it's possible we could still draw up a private contract with her? I've come to depend on some of her combinations quite a bit lately." She folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket before gathering her outerwear, as well.

"I'm sure she wouldn't complain about making a few extra coins on a private contract - if she's still willing to do business with us after this. Let's just hope the guests at the inn don't catch word of it, or _no one_ will want to do business with us again." Talvalo shifted his cloak on his shoulders and headed through the anteroom to open the front door. "Actually, I was thinking … it might be best if I left for a while."

"You're not going anywhere." She pulled her hood over her head before marching past him.

Talvalo usually found humor in her short delivery of unquestionable orders, but on this day, it was difficult to find the smile. "It would give rumors a chance to die down." He covered his own head and closed the door behind them.

"If you run it will make you look guilty."

"I _am_ guilty," he quietly reminded her with a pained expression.

Chizrae shook her head. "You were the arrow. Someone else took aim and fired the shot."

Rain poured down on Mysthaven as if it wished it could have been snow blanketing the ground. But instead of piling high into soft, fluffy banks, it made the ground muddy, forming frozen puddles here and there that the couple had to carefully navigate as they made their way across the field between the inn and the forge. Turning right, they headed past the garden patches toward the semi-circle of guest houses on the far side of the estate.

Chizrae came to a stop at the small cottage with "Comberry House" burned into the wooden signpost over the door. "Selena?" She rapped her knuckles on the thick wooden surface first, but then tried the louder brass knocker. After a long moment when there was no response, the drow turned the handle and pushed open the unlocked door. "Sele ... na …"

The altmer alchemist was face down on the floor in a pool of her own blood.

Talvalo grimaced at the sight, entered the home, and touched Selena's shoulder. When she did not respond, he turned her over with care to see the wound. A silver dagger was planted firmly between her ribs, close to her heart. "Well, she wasn't mauled by a wolf, but if the Imperial guards come back to question me and find this ..." He looked over his shoulder to Chizrae. "Two kills in less than a day ... They'll lock me up first and ask questions later."

"Someone wanted to make sure Selena didn't tell anyone what she saw last night."

"And the dagger is silver. Someone else knows what happened." Talvalo sighed with despair. "I should turn myself in before this gets any worse."

"You didn't do this!" The drow's anger over these continuing events grew. "And I will not be held hostage by my own staff. Go to the inn and tell your guests to leave. Feed them whatever pack of lies you can think of to get them off of the island quickly. Then, bring Narsean to the manor with you."

"What are you going to do?" he warily asked.

"I'm going to confront a killer," she answered in a grim tone before she exited the cottage into the rain and wind with her cloak billowing behind her.

))((

"That's outrageous! You can't accuse all of us of murdering Elgian!" Bodil protested.

"Shut up!" the drow snapped back to silence everyone talking all at once. Her blood-red gaze moved to each of the faces of her worried and insulted companions who agreed to meet in the living room of her manor home."Whoever is responsible for what happened to Elgian last night has betrayed me, as well." Her eyes narrowed, and her voice softened; but it still had a cutting edge. "But I've been through this type of scenario before, and this time, no one is going to cut out my lover's heart for a sacrifice, or twist a knife in my back." She pointed toward the fireplace. "Bodil, Bree, Narsean, Bren, gro-Nob, and Jiub - by the fire," she ordered. "I will speak to my magic users first."

As her mundane and martial oriented staff reluctantly and resentfully took their positions near the hearth, the drow turned to face her remaining household hands. "If the Empire were to set spies on me, the most likely place to plant them would be the Mage's Guild or my own home. I thought Trebonius was the culprit at first, but now I know it's someone else - someone in this room. Whoever is responsible for what happened last night made a secret copy of a Realmsfade book and stole Talvalo's teleport key. It's possible they used the book and key to get on and off the island without being seen. It's possible they left the island to kill Elgian with some kind of conjured or otherwise magically dominated beast, because when Talvalo saw the book, someone attacked him from behind and knocked him out cold. Who among you is capable of such magic?" The drow passed in front of Aria, Mysti, Mia, and Olin, trying to read their expressions, before coming to a stop before Shazi.

The Imperial enchantress's jaw dropped at the incredulous accusation. "_Me? _You think I killed Elgian? I've never had so much as a complaint against the man. In fact, the only one of us that has threatened Elgian with bodily harm is Talvalo."

Chizrae's frown deepened at the accusation, but she expected it. "You asked to use the lab late last night, and you are the only one around here with enchantment skills advanced enough to make a teleporting book and domination charm."

"I did use the lab, but then I left. Did Talvalo see me there when he found this book you're talking about? Can he produce it?"

"No, and I was attacked from behind," the increasingly frustrated altmer admitted.

"Well, I never saw you come into lab - not the whole time I was down there. You must have come in after I left. Someone else must have been in the lab after I left and before you entered." Shazi looked around. "Wait a minute. Selena isn't here. She's been talking for some time now about leaving for Mournhold. Maybe she made the book. It would be cheaper and easier than trying to head there by ship or on foot. And she's never been comfortable around Loki. Perhaps she has her own domination device to protect herself from him."

The drow's mood darkened even more at Shazi's attempt to shift blame to the second victim. "Selena informed me this morning that she intended to leave Mysthaven for good. If she made a Mournhold book, it wouldn't have taken her to the egg mine to kill Elgian, and she wouldn't have needed a key to return. Perhaps they're not connected, but Selena told me she saw something last night, and now she's dead."

As shock filtered around the gathering, Bree stepped forward with a mortified expression. "Something killed Selena, too?"

"_Someone._ This was not an animal attack. Selena had a silver dagger in her chest. Like Talvalo, she saw something she wasn't supposed to see." The drow faced her mages.

"And what, _exactly_, did she see? A _book_?" Jiub asked.

"We don't know what she saw. But we were dressing to go meet with her, when someone got to her before we did," Talvalo explained, mildly annoyed at the dunmer's tone.

"Who stole Talvalo's key?" Chizrae demanded, getting impatient with the run-around discussion. When no one volunteered information, she fell back on truth-saying tactics she learned while serving as a priestess of Lloth. The drow cast a detect key spell over herself and opened her eyes to wait for the magical glow to reveal itself from someone's pocket. When no such glow appeared, she growled in frustration and marched toward Jiub. "As head of security, I'm holding you responsible for finding that key."

Jiub wasn't pleased with the assignment. "I keep people from getting onto the grounds uninvited. I don't do windows, and I_ don't_ hunt down lost keys."

Chizrae had to bite her lip to keep from challenging him about how Talvalo got back onto the island unnoticed. That would be giving away the fact that he was off the island when he should have been in bed. "This is an internal security problem. Security is your _job_."

"I did my job. I told you not to give a key to him in the first place. If he lost your damn key, then I suggest you make _him_ find it."

The drow cast another spell on herself. This time it revealed _any_ enchanted item, and she wasn't surprised to see a soft glow beneath Jiub's shirt. "What kind of magic is on that necklace you're wearing? It wouldn't happen to be domination magic, would it?"

"Nobody can out-dominate you, Chiz." Jiub pulled the amulet from under his peasant shirt and showed it to her. "It's a chameleon charm. Can't blame a former thief for having a few favored items hanging around."

A brief examination was all she needed to know he was telling the truth. "Why would you need such a thing around here?"

"It has its uses."

"Like hiding in the alchemy lab and hitting someone who wasn't supposed to be there?"

"I can't make enchanted books," the thief pointed out the obvious. "And wearing a chameleon charm doesn't make me guilty of murder, ... unless you want the finger of blame to point back at you, as well. I heard you attacked the Arch-mage under a chameleon spell, rather than standing in front of him for a fair fight."

All of the Mage Guild members looked at each other with surprise. None of them had been present in Vivec to witness the wizard's dual. All they knew was that Trebonius had challenged her and lost.

Chizrae couldn't believe Jiub was accusing her of foul play after he was the one that suggested she backstab Trebonius in the first place. But again, she was forced to hold her tongue, rather than reveal what they had discussed concerning the Arch-mage's permanent removal.

"If you must know, I use the chameleon charm to check the grounds without anyone knowing they're being watched. And I can set traps where no one sees me setting them," Jiub answered. "But I find it interesting that in seeking a domination charm, the only one around here who already wears one is you. Isn't it possible _you_ could have used the teleporting book to take Loki to the mainland, ordered him to rip Elgian to shreds, and then used the key to teleport back in?" His eyes shifted toward Talvalo. "Unless of course, there is another wolf on the premises we haven't been told about."

The drow was careful not to play into the dunmer's trap. To defend Talvalo after that kind of insinuation - to even look at him - would make matters worse. But now she was afraid Talvalo had been right. Jiub was suspicious, and he might have figured out the curse. Her crimson eyes narrowed on the thief. "There is only one wolf on this island, and Loki did not kill Elgian," she answered is a cold, flat tone. "Someone in this room is an Imperial spy and murderer."

The dunmer folded his hands behind his back, walked around her, and crossed the floor to confront the altmer, instead. "Then perhaps you'd like to explain why that nifty wolf's tooth looks so much like Loki's."

Talvalo tensed as Jiub edged closer to the truth, but his expression remained void of emotion.

"Was that meant for another wolf? Or was that one meant for you?"

Whispers went up among the gathered companions again.

"_You're_ a werewolf," Jiub stated Talvalo's secret with a triumphant smile, drawing more than a few astonished gasps from the rest of the household staff.

Chizrae felt a pit growing in the bottom of her stomach. She could almost taste the curiosity and fear in their expressions as everyone regarded Talvalo in this new, shadowed light.

"It's true!" Jiub turned his attention to the rest of the stunned gathering. "He wears a calming charm just like Loki. He leaves every full moon and stays gone for days at a time. He has a fight with Elgian, and the next day Elgian turns up dead - half-eaten by some creature not even the Imperial Legion can identify. _Werewolf_ …" The dunmer faced the altmer once more. "Shall we stick you with a silver blade to see if the wound blisters? I hear the curse has an amazing reaction to silver."

Talvalo was impotent to do anything more than clench his teeth and fists as Jiub exposed his darkest secret to everyone on the estate. Any show of temper right now would catalyze what happened to Elgian. "A silver dagger was used to kill Selena. If I was a werewolf, do you honestly think I'd use a silver weapon to kill someone?"

"No, but you might want to check your wife's armory to see if she's missing a silver blade or two. After all, she's the one with the domination charm. She would know best what it takes to control you. Maybe she used them on you to make you do something Selena shouldn't have seen." Jiub shook his head in dismay. "Isn't it obvious why she hasn't divorced you yet, Talvalo? She's incapable of love. She just wants to retain you as an assassin?"

Chizrae was not as disciplined as her feral husband. The drow snatched the thief by the collar of his shirt and jerked him around to face her, instead. She was going to say something absolutely scathing in response to his accusations, but then her lip curled into a snarl and she shoved him away. "Get out."

"You're firing me for trying to help you find the killer? Am I getting a little too close to the truth for comfort there, Chiz?"

"Get out!" She shoved him back with more force and drew her dagger.

"Very well. I'll take my suppositions and go. I'm not comfortable sleeping next door to a monster, anyway." Jiub straightened his shirt and cast Talvalo one last heated glare before leaving the meeting.

As she watched her closest ally walk out the door, Chizrae tried to tell herself that it didn't matter. She trusted no one. She needed no one. This was proof why trust was so dangerous and undesirable.

"Is ... it true?" Mysti spoke, breaking the tense silence left in Jiub's wake. "Shazi pointed out the charm once before, but …"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Bren the smith demanded, becoming angry.

"Being wolf-man not so bad, unless warm-blood man have cold-blood hearrrrrt," Mia commented.

Olin approached Talvalo with concern and caution. "If it's true, … I'm sure there's a cure. Somehow, someway ... Would you like me to look into it?"

"Look into it? You most certainly will not," Shazi countered her husband's offer. "This is a secret that could have endangered us all. _We_ are the ones betrayed here. Chizrae, if I had known the true reason for your requests for the domination and calming charms, I _never_ would have agreed to it!"

"Get out! All of you!" Chizrae shouted, turning on the rest of her crew.

"But …?" Aria started to protest.

"If I can't trust at least _one _of you to tell me the truth about what kind of conspiracy is going on here, then I can't trust any of you! I am _not _playing friendship games anymore! Pack your things and get off of this island now!" The drow's eyes narrowed in anger again. "And don't bother to come back for anything left behind. When I find out who is responsible for this, _I_ will come looking for _you_."

With nothing further to say, the drow steamed in bitter silence as her companions shuffled or stormed out of her house - grumbles, complaints, astonished whispers and all. Only Bree paused before leaving and dared to give the dark elf a sympathetic hug. When the last of them had cleared the door, she slammed it shut and locked it.

A moment later, she heard Talvalo approach from behind and felt his hands rest upon her shoulders. He said nothing, though, and his silence throughout Jiub's entire verbal attack was disturbing. This was the tragedy he once predicted if he lingered too long in one place. "I should … go to the dock to foresee the evictions and lock the gates behind them," she quietly told him. When he still did not respond, she turned to face him, but the sadness in his eyes almost staggered her. Cool, green altmer eyes ... The yellow eyes of the ravenous wolf had not shown themselves since his return from the ordeal last night. Chizrae found herself wondering if Elgian recognized the elf beneath the beast, like she had. But there was no way of knowing Elgian's thoughts or reasons for befriending her now. "Well, … the good news is that we won't have to go to Vos for the next full moon. We can stay right here, … at home."

"You mean if the Imperial forces don't drive a silver stake through my heart first?" Talvalo apologetically shook his head. "There's no way to contain this now. Everyone in Seyda Neen will know before long. Everything is lost." Releasing her shoulders, he headed toward the stairs.

Whether he intended to sleep off the stress or pack his bags, she couldn't tell.

))((

Jiub was still muttering bitterly to himself and packing his belongings when a knock came at his door. Annoyed at the interruption in his efforts to leave as soon as possible, he answered it with an impatient sigh.

Shazi greeted him with a faint smile, as if apologizing for his fallout with the drow. "Is Bodil about?"

"He went to the docks to help load the boat with everyone else's things, but then he's coming back to get his own stuff." He stepped aside to let her enter and closed the door behind her, locking it. "Can you believe that? She's harboring a werewolf, but she kicks _us_ out for being untrustworthy."

Shazi pushed back her green hood to reveal the flushed skin and rosy cheeks of her rushed activity in preparing to leave, as well. "But he didn't deny it, and neither did she. That will speak loud and clear to everyone else. Finding out that Talvalo was a werewolf did throw an unexpected twist into the plans at first, but now I'm positive this can work in our favor."

"He didn't attack her, though. He doesn't believe she's the one setting him up."

"Well, it would have been nice if we could have turned him against her, but the stupid oaf is entirely too infatuated with her. At least we have his clothing and that journal to get him out of our hair, and without her personal guard dog hanging around, she should be easier to deal with alone." Shazi snapped her fingers in disgust at a forgotten interest. "We should have tried to get the journal out of his bedroom before the meeting. Now one of us will have to go back for it. Or maybe I could just tell the Imperial Legion to do a search for it. "

"He'll probably burn any evidence now that his secret's out. You should have let me kill him when I had him down last night. I could have said I saw him attacking Elgian and came to his defense."

Shazi frowned at her accomplice. "Chizrae wouldn't have believed that, even if everyone else did. That would only make her come after us. We need to do this in a way that will make all evidence point to them. We can't risk implicating ourselves in any way."

"But now he might run to avoid arrest, … which means she might run with him."

"If she runs, then it is not our problem to find her. We will stick to the plan. Talvalo will either be arrested or flee. Either way, that leaves us free to continue with the next step of our mission."

"_Your_ mission," he corrected. "I'm just your mercenary."

"Don't start pointing fingers, Jiub, or you might just poke your own eye out," she scolded before passing a sack to him. "Don't remove the book from the special cloth that binds it until you are _absolutely_ sure you are ready to activate it. And Jiub, ... don't take this task lightly." Her anger gave way to nervousness. "What I saw when I tested the book in the alchemy lab last night was unlike anything I've ever seen. It was beautiful, but frightening somehow - very, very frightening. I was glad that I didn't stay any longer than I did. I can't help but agree with you that the werewolf might have been a _safer_ means of doing this, but there's no way to use Talvalo against her now. This needs to be a one-shot strike, or it could get messy. The Empire doesn't want messy, Jiub."

"Understood. And the key?"

"It's in there, along with a few other things, ... in case you need them."

"Just remember our deal when it's done," the thief gruffly reminded her. "I give you the Nerevarine, I get Mysthaven, and the Empire lives happily ever after."

"I'll see what I can do about the estate paperwork once they're both declared fugitives or dead. Until then, I can be reached through the Balmora Mage Guild when you return." Shazi turned and left Juib's cottage to finish her own packing.

Jiub opened the sack and dumped its contents on the bed - the second teleporting key, a second domination charm, a night eye ring, a folded map, and a blue book that glowed with magic inside of a sheer silk cloth that acted as a barrier to its magic. He took the first two items and examined them briefly before slipping the key onto the chain with the domination charm. After pulling it over his head, he tucked his new possessions beneath his shirt alongside his chameleon amulet. Donning the ring, he carefully tucked the book and its protective nullifying cloth back into the sack. Then, he picked up the map in attempt to study it.

Several minutes later, Bodil returned to their shared quarters and grabbed one of his trunks of personal items. "I'm going to stay at the docks until everyone else has been taken back to the mainland. If you could bring the rest of my stuff when you're ready to bring yours, I'll just meet you there when you're ready to leave."

Jiub watched his long-time friend carry his armful to the open door, but then hopped to his side and used an arm to bar his exit. "How would you like to go on a road trip and earn a little extra cash?"

Bodil was speculative for a moment, then shrugged. "Where are we going?"

With a wry smile, Jiub pulled the door shut and showed him the map. "Menzoberranzan."

))((

Chizrae and Talvalo knew they had to clear their names fast, before anything else could be presented in attempt to frame them. They decided the best way to do that was the same way they had dealt with his mother - embrace the truth. The drow discovered that Jiub had been right about a silver dagger being missing from the display room collection of silver weaponry, so she cleaned and replaced it. The altmer removed all of his journals from the shelves and returned them to his cavern in Vos. Then, they dutifully reported Selena's murder to the Imperial guards in Seyda Neen and invited them to come to the estate to collect her body.

Chizrae told them what she knew her staff would report if they were questioned - how Talvalo had seen the enchanted book, how someone had stolen his key, how they found Selena suspiciously silenced, and how Jiub had accused Talvalo of being a werewolf.

"W-werewolf?" The Imperial guard's blinked at Talvalo in dismay. "_You're_ a werewolf?"

"According to a dunmer thief." He smiled and shrugged as if the drug-enhanced idea were undeniably amusing.

The guards were uncertain how to accept that, at first. Then, they chuckled a bit because it was so unlikely a noble gold elf standing before them would admit to such a thing, even if it were true. But since he had been absent during the first inquiry, and since an anonymous package had been dropped off at the census and excise office naming him as the prime suspect with the same werewolf tale, they still wanted to question him. The package contained a pair of bloodied pajama bottoms with a note suggesting they search the estate for the wolf charms and books that were proof of the altmer's cursed nature.

Talvalo answered their questions with his typical, artistically evasive flair. He invited the Legion to scour the estate if they wished, but assured them no such books existed. The pajama bottoms _were_ his, but he pointed out that nothing about them showed signs of a struggle. "These are too clean. If a werewolf were wearing these during an attack, surely they would be in worse condition than this. Where are the torn seams, the blade cuts, the mud stains? This looks like someone stripped me naked in my sleep and dipped them in a bowl of blood before bagging them as evidence." Disgusted that someone had ruined a good pair of pajama bottoms for such a weak ploy, he gave them back.

As for the calming charm, he praised it as a wonderful little relaxation gift that his loving wife had bestowed upon him. He described how nice it was to let his worries melt away at the end of a bad day and even placed it over the inquisitor's head, so he could experience its calming magic, too. Talvalo implored him to imagine he was in a steaming bath and coached him to breathe deep, close his eyes, and meditate on the inner peace he was feeling. Wasn't it absolutely refreshing? Everyone should have one of these. The world would be a better place for it.

The relaxed and enlightened inquisitor agreed.

In spite of the serious nature of their visit, Chizrae had to bite her finger a few times to keep from smiling as the poet won round after round against reason. Eventually, she had to choke down the urge to snicker and excused herself from the room to wait outside. Leaning on a post at the pier, she allowed herself a light chuckle at the altmer's nonsensical ability to talk anyone into anything. Then, she lifted her gaze to the sunset behind the docked ship. It was good that Talvalo had been able to put aside his personal devastation well enough to do this because the blood moon was nearly full again. They would have to seclude themselves for his natural transformation, trusting nothing else would come of the forced one. Then, once the moon rage and the Imperial Legion were safely quieted, they could continue the hunt for the traitor.

The guards searched the estate after the interview, but didn't find anything incriminating. They agreed that Loki could not have killed Elgian or Selena. Though the idea that a werewolf killed Elgian was surprisingly plausible, they agreed that Selena had been murdered by somewhat less nefarious hands. Eventually, they concluded that Chizrae and Talvalo had been used to cover someone else's dark deeds. Or at least, they seemed to have nothing to hide. No one could be arrested for the murders unless further evidence came to light.

))((

Talvalo tested the locked door on his cage to make sure the spring bolts had fallen into place properly before passing the keyring to Chizrae. "Did you bring Spider Bite this time like I told you?"

She gave a solemn nod, but bore an expression of defiance. "I still don't understand why you insisted on coming back to this wretched place when we could have stayed at home this time."

"I've been thinking about something you said." He pulled off his shirt and rings, passing them to her, but kept the calming charm. "You said domination magic works only on mind control, so that means it probably can't make me do things I wouldn't ordinarily be able to do anyway. In other words, it can only dominate abilities that are already there. If I can't cast flight spells _before_ being dominated, I probably can't cast flight spells _after_ being dominated, right? So, if someone forced me to change into were-form at will using domination magic, maybe I was capable of doing that on my own before it was forced." He stepped back and slipped out of his pants.

The drow's eyes traveled down his thoroughly naked torso, and she allowed herself a small smile. This was always her favorite part of his wolf cycle - the effort to eliminate and save good clothing. "That makes sense, I guess."

Flattered by her subdued admiration, he stuck an arm through the bars to drape his pants over the arm bearing his shirt. Then, he grasped one of the bars and drew close to finish explaining. "Hircine said I would sacrifice my elf-form for the moon change, but he also said that I would forever exist between man and beast. When the moon is full, I have no choice but to change, but maybe he also meant the dual existence would always be here. I want to test my theory before the moon is full. Don't open the cage until I'm done, … just in case."

Chizrae accepted his reasoning and stepped back. Only when she was on the other side of the cavern did Talvalo close his eyes and concentrate. Instead of summoning a monster to his side, he was summoning the monster within himself. This was always her least favorite part of his wolf cycle - the hardest part to watch. But his theory about willful transformation proved correct. When he was done with the painful transformation, and the bi-pedal were-beast did not react violently to her presence, she decided to test his theory further. "Are you in control? Or are you in a fog?"

The werewolf's response came as a hand-sign. _"No fog."_

The drow's lips parted in astonishment. Cautiously, she drew closer to the cage. "You can communicate in that form now?"

Talvalo opened his mouth to speak, but his wolf-like vocal chords and mouth were not designed to accommodate words. He growled low at that disadvantage, but his clawed hands were perfectly capable of shaping the drow hand signs she had taught him. _"The Bloodlust is gone. I think clearly. I am Talvalo Shalonethyr."_

Excited at this discovery, Chizrae continued to challenge it. "Take off the charm."

He was hesitant, but when he decided to see what would happen, he realized the amulet now fit more like a small choker around his thick neck because of the doubled size of his bone structure and muscular proportions.

"Come here. I'll help." The drow dared to reach a hand through the bars, past the wolf's teeth to unclasp the delicate necklace and pull it back with her. "Still in control?"

_"Still in control,"_ he signed. "_I know for certain now. Magic made me kill Elgian, not choice."_

"Try your other form."

The werewolf shape-shifted again into a large snow wolf. His appearance now was smaller and less intimidating, but he lost his ability to communicate by trading fingered hands for paws. He gave a bark in complaint, but then stepped back and shifted back into his normal elf-form.

"Hircine has truly taken your curse and turned it into a blessing to be able to do what none of his other Hounds can," Chizrae remarked in amazement. "Be sure to thank him if you happen to come across a shrine."

Talvalo smiled for the first time in days, pleased with his new magical talent - if it could be called that. "You're the one who wanted me to be free of the Bloodlust, rather than wolf form. I should be thanking you. Had you made the other choice, I'd look normal all the time, but I'd be barking mad beneath the surface."

Chizrae smirked. "Should I confess? I was being totally selfish when I had to make that decision. I knew I'd lose your elf form, too, if you couldn't stay in control of your mind." A sultry smile touched her lips as she lightly drew her fingernails down his chest to his navel.

He put his face between the bars of the cage to meet her sensual interest with a sigh. "And you're telling me this right before I have no choice but to become a wolf because …"

She snickered lightly at his complaint.

Talvalo couldn't help but chuckle at her guilty response. "It's because you enjoy torturing me, isn't it? See, I've learned how that little drow brain of yours works. There's something inherently sadistic about you, even though you claim you're no longer a sadist."

It felt good to laugh again after everything that had happened recently. Rising on her toes, she gave him an apologetic kiss for the teasing. Then, her tongue swept between his lips, deepening it into a sensual one.

Reaching through the bars to slip the keyring from her fingers, careful not to break away from the kiss, Talvalo unlocked his cage door. They still had a couple of hours left before moon rise.


	15. Chapter 15: City of Spiders

Chapter 15: City of Spiders

In an abandoned thieves' cavern hulled into the back of a dunmer ancestor tomb near Molag Mar, Jiub and Bodil sat at a makeshift stone table making one last check on their supplies. Jiub had explained as much of the mission to Bodil as he thought he needed to know - as much as he thought he could trust him with.

Bodil was hesitant to make an enemy of the drowess, should she find out about their aid to Shazi in plotting against her, and Jiub understood that. But the reward and the prospect of seeing a world so far away were too tempting to pass up. He agreed to go. "Well, I think I've got everything I might need. How about you?" the bosmer thief asked of the dunmer.

Jiub pulled out the map one more time and studied the mark that Shazi had left on it to indicate where they would arrive in relation to the underground city. "There's a couple of things I stashed here that I need to get first."

Bodil leaned forward and squinted through the lantern light at the undecipherable writing on the outline. "Where'd you get that, anyway?"

"Chizrae had a small chest where she kept a few personal mementos from her homeland. She's more cautious to speak of it these days, but when I first met her, she showed it to me to explain where she came from. When we moved her stuff from Vivec, it was the perfect opportunity to borrow a few items without her realizing they were gone." Jiub stood and walked to a locked chest he had trapped. Springing it open, he retrieved a handful of small items and returned to the table.

"Can you actually read it?"

Jiub slipped Chizrae's language amulet over his head with the other magical necklaces he now wore. The illegible script melted away and reshaped itself into familiar characters right before his eyes. "I can now. She used this little trinket to understand us when she first came to our world."

Bodil fingered the rings that remained. He recognized the magical glow imbued in one of them and picked it up. "Levitation ... Man, don't tell me they're like those Talvanni wizards who live in towers where everything's out of reach if you can't fly."

"That's mine, not hers. But, yeah, I remember her talking a few times about having a natural levitation ability that she lost in coming here. Something about exposure to magical radiations underground."

Another ring on the counter caught Bodil's attention. "And this one?"

"Shazi enchanted that one with an extremely strong teleport spell, like the one on the Realmsfade books. No matter where we are, it can bring us back here if we get into trouble there, or when we've done what we set out to do, ... whichever comes first."

"Trouble?" Bodil paused and his eyes shifted toward his friend.

"Imagine a whole city ... filled with thousands and thousands of other Chizraes." Jiub chuckled to himself at the notion.

Bodil had not thought of it that way before. He let out a breath of doubt. "I don't know, man. Plundering around in a place that's darker and more blatantly combative than a Telvanni tower?"

Jiub folded the map and tucked it into his travel bag. Then, he took the ring from Bodil and pocketed it as well. "Haven't you ever wanted to see this place that she talks about? Aren't you curious?" The dunmer grasped the book in the silk wrap and set it between them.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Jiub," Bodil reminded him.

"So it did. Or maybe the cat found a gateway to something better." The dark elf smiled to the wood elf and pulled the dispel fabric away from the book cover. Drawing a breath to calm the nervousness he refused to admit he was feeling, Jiub touched the sparkling foreign script and instantly disappeared from his hideout cavern. The teleporting magic on this book was more silent than the others - probably because of the secretive nature of its creation and use.

When the magic faded, Jiub was standing alone in what seemed to be a pitch black void. He lifted the lantern and strained to see something - anything - around him, when a feint glow beside him appeared to break up the darkness. For a moment, he was worried how it resembled a demonic face. Then, he sighed with relief to realize it was only Bodil.

"Don't do that!" the wood elf hissed, apparently thinking the same thing.

The dunmer chuckled softly at their having scared each other and passed the lantern to him. "Take this. You'll need it. Just don't let it get too bright. Chizrae said it took a long time for her eyes to adjust to light. It hurts drow eyes since they live in darkness. Something to remember if we fall under attack."

"Attack? Oh yeah. I remember her saying something about them not liking other elves."

"That's putting it mildly. If anyone says anything insulting, just nod and smile." As Jiub's eyes slowly adjusted to the inky void with the help of his night-eye ring, his sharp ears became aware of the soft dripping of mineral water that formed the dragon-maw stalactites and stalagmites on the floor and ceiling of this otherwise eerily silent underworld. The musky scent of some kind of animal hung in the air, and the temperature was surprisingly moderate. As his eyes adjusted further, he could see luminous mushrooms, moss, and various other forms of fungi visibly dotting the walls. In the flora's glow and the lantern's light, he also began to see part of the narrow, twisted incline they were going to have to take to descend further down into the bowels of the cavern. Beyond that, however, their path was obscure. "I'll be damned. A moon garden," Jiub remarked upon realizing for the first time where the drow had drawn her inspiration for the night-magic landscaping around the pond.

Bodil drew his short sword and readied his netch leather shield. "Except for the fact that her garden doesn't include predators."

"I smell it, too." Jiub decided Bodil had the right idea and drew his sword as well.

As the pair cautiously traveled deeper into the velvet darkness, they became aware that their lantern drew unseen eyes toward them, yet also kept them at bay. The soft shifting sounds of movement in the otherwise silent passage began to wear on their nerves until they were both in a cold sweat, half-expecting to be jumped by some creature of unspeakable horror. Eventually, as the path leveled out, sounds of activity in the distance began to overcome the unnerving silence. The prospect of civilization up ahead made them quicken their steps, but they continued to check over their shoulders as they jogged toward the glow of a distant cavern.

They were right to run because they _were _being stalked by predators in the dark. But as they drew closer to the entrance of the distant grotto, it was the creatures in front of them _not_ using stealth that worried them more. The predators came no further because two male drow that had been patrolling the tunnels around the city were sitting astride two sharp-fanged, bi-pedal lizards. Their skins were as black as Chizrae's, and they had the same thick white hair and fiery red eyes. The scouts made no move to advance on the two strangers, but they didn't move out of the way, either.

"Compared to them, Chizrae looks pretty good right now." Bodil whispered to Jiub as he slowed to a walk once more. "Maybe we should just forget the whole thing and apologize to her."

Jiub snorted. "Yeah, you just keep smoking that skooma. There's no way she'll let us off the hook on an apology."

One of the scouts prompted his sticky-footed lizard to move forward across the tunnel and block their path. The creature's low-throated growl greeted them before the drow did. "_Vrine'winith lu'kruk dosst chaon, kitrye-vlos, xor dos orn alu nau felah_," he demanded in a very unfriendly tone, thumping the butt of his spear into Jiub's breastbone to stop him from advancing any further.

Bodil looked to Jiub with worry. "I hope you understood that, or something tells me we're in deep shit."

Jiub did understand him. The drow had demanded to know what his business was, or he wasn't going to be allowed into the city. The dunmer found it odd that he had addressed him as a half-blood, though. Apparently, his blue-gray skin was light enough that he had been mistaken for a half-drow. The thief cleared his throat and offered a polite, but uncertain, smile. Unfamiliar words came to his mind matching the thoughts that he wanted to speak. "_Bwael tangi ulu dos._" He was pleasantly surprised to hear himself speak the greeting so fluently, so he continued. "My business is that I'm seeking someone by the name of Daerazal Velve'Xukuth, known to be a citizen of this place."

The drow snorted and looked back over his shoulder at his companion on the other lizard. Both of them laughed as if a dark joke passed between them.

"I'm aware that House Velve'Xukuth was destroyed some time ago," Jiub inserted, trying not to look as foolish as they apparently thought he was. "My contact, however, says that this man survived."

The drow leaned forward on the head of his lizard and applied subtle pressure to the spear shaft still centered on Jiub's chest. "If a son of House Velve'Xukuth still lives, he has either left the city or been drawn into a new house and wouldn't want to be found by that name." The scout regarded the two surface elves with cool interest for a moment before making a decision. "I'm not in the mood for sport with pale elves and half-bloods today, but since you have survived the journey this far, I will let you be someone _else's_ sport." The drow scout's lips curled into a dark smile as he removed his spear from Jiub's chest and moved his lizard up the side of the cavern wall to the ceiling. Strapped into his saddle in that inverted position, with his long white hair hanging like moss from a tree branch, he waited for the two surface elves to pass. The second scout had not said a word, but he copied his partner's decision and moved aside.

"Then I don't suppose … you could refer me to a good place or guild to begin my search."

"The Bazaar is the best place to begin seeking people who do not exist. You can find members of thieves' guilds there, or in the lower income houses of Eastmyr and the slums of Braeryn. Or, if you can afford their fees, there is one mercenary band that has an uncommon reputation in gathering information - Bregan D'aerthe is said to be the eyes and ears of First House Baenre. They are more likely than anyone else to know whether the person you seek still lives."

"Thank you." Jiub looked up at the drow scout wondering what was behind his strange expression. Was he being helpful, or was he really sending them to their deaths? "I'm getting as paranoid as she is," he muttered to himself and walked beneath the scouts' watchful eyes.

"What did he say?" Bodil whispered, pressing for a translation once they were past them.

Jiub explained the brief conversation just before the pair passed through the guarded entrance. This time, the dunmer thief asked for directions to the Bazaar instead of asking about members of the defunct House Velve'Xukuth. Then they did what most surface elves on Faerun wouldn't dare to do. They voluntarily entered the drow city proper.

Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, occupied a thousand-foot-high cavern filled with row upon row of carved, spiraling towers in and around the natural, black rock formations both above and on the ground. Though the city itself was as dark as night, it was bathed in a soothing glow of purple, blue, green, and red faerie fire spells cast upon the stalagmite and stalactite fortresses. Narbondel, the great stone pillar of time, stood in the center of the small, but busy, trade city, connecting the floor of the cavern to the ceiling, glowing red halfway to its "black death" at which time the Arch-mage of the First House was required to cast his magic on it to start its clock all over again. Voices buzzed in conversation. Tools and magic chipped away at the ever-changing faces of the stalactite fortresses. And beasts of burden brayed in protest as their caravans made their way through the narrow, winding streets. It would have been comforting to have finally arrived, safe from the wilds, if not for the occasional scream that peppered the environ, hinting that there was just as much danger inside city limits as out.

Jiub lifted his eyes to Tier Breche, the side cavern visibly overlooking the city in all its dark glory. That was where Arach Tinilith was safely tucked away - the temple of Lloth where Chizrae once studied the tools of the priestess trade. Beside it were Sorcere, the training tower for wizards, and Melee Magthere, the training hall for warriors. He saw, first-hand, the giant, goddess-given jade spider guardians watching the few known and secret entrances into the city - the jade spiders that Chizrae had been accused of stealing after also being accused of murdering an Arch-mage. He didn't see how in the world such a small woman could be accused of stealing such large statues. "Impressive," he muttered.

Like any other trade city, Menzoberranzan had fine restaurants and casual taverns, book shops and food shops, magic shops and music shops - all kinds of amenities for local and foreign patrons. Bath houses seemed to be a popular attraction, too. With Chizrae's tales of slaughter in mind, it seemed difficult to believe that a city so full of hatred toward other races would allow them to visit and trade there. As the pair walked deeper into the well-to-do Narbondellyn district, they passed elaborate homes where the residents could enter only if they could levitate past the magical fences and mushroom shriekers. Drow noblewomen that looked like perfectly carved ebony dolls flew about the city on their blue floating disks. Drow warriors in black adamantine armor and wizards in rich red and purple robes roamed the avenues speaking quietly between themselves, or not at all. The air smelled of rich spices and strong perfumes. And beyond the homes to the south there was a forest of tall mushrooms. All this made the drow city seem like an exotic and desirable place to be, but as they drew closer to the central and eastern sections of the city, perceptions began to change.

At one tavern, a loud and rowdy brawl between some orcs and goblins spilled into the street. The orcs lynched one of the goblins horribly and left their victim half-dead in the gutter, yet no one batted an eye as they passed by - not even when a nearby scavenger of some race Jiub had never seen hunched over the body and began to eat it. In another area, a drow mage with a small train of skeletons carrying crates became annoyed at some arguing kobolds that blocked his path, so he fried both of them to a crisp with a lightning spell and resurrected their bodies to join his entourage of necromantic slaves. Large quaggoths, creatures that looked almost like bi-pedal bears, were whipped until their white fur was wet and sticky with blood as their trainers ordered them to pull their carts faster. And when they passed by a slave auction in progress, Bodil cringed at the humans and light elves begging to be purchased by them, so that they would not be traded among the drow. But no matter where they went, they passed spiders. Large spiders, small spiders - clusters of spiders were everywhere!

"This place is insane. I can't believe I let you talk me into coming here. We should leave while we still can." Bodil finally spoke in a low hiss to his friend. His eyes were wide with every beautiful and grotesque thing they had seen on their way to the large market place in the center of the city.

"Not much further." Jiub tried to sound encouraging, though he pretty much agreed with Bodil. One view of Menzoberranzan and its denizens was more than enough for a lifetime. As they entered the many rows of mobile vending stalls, the dunmer tried to guess who would be able to give them more information without luring them into something he was sure they would regret. His eye finally settled on an armorer - a human armorer trying to keep a bunch of rough-looking drow youth from walking away with his wares. "Excuse me," Jiub spoke, using the language charm once more. "I'm looking for the leader of Bregan D'aerthe."

Snickers and laughter went up among the boys. Even the human merchant seemed amused at the innocence of such a statement, but then he snatched a decorative bracer back from one of the unruly youths. "If you're not going to buy anything, get out of here! Go on!" He tried to shoo them away.

Jiub swallowed his pride and tried again. "I'm looking for _anyone_ associated with Bregan D'aerthe. I need help finding someone - quickly, if possible."

"You don't find Bregan D'aerthe. Bregan D'aerthe finds you." The oldest boy in the group - almost too old to be called a youth anymore - approached with a smug posture, daring the _half-blood_ to challenge him. "Maybe we can help you out."

"We're looking for someone who doesn't exist," Jiub cautiously told him.

"Well, that could get tricky. What's it worth to you?"

"Worth depends on results. I'm seeking a member of House Velve'Xukuth."

The drow youth nodded, remembering. "The Velve'Xukuth compound used to stand at the border between Narbondellyn and Donegarten districts, but there was a house war a few years back that reduced it to rubble. The official word is that there were no survivors, of course, but official words are for people who prefer to cover up the truth." He gave the pair of surface dwellers a cocky grin. "I _happen_ to know someone who _happens_ to know Kimmuriel Oblodra who _happens_ to be Jarlaxle's right-hand man. Jarlaxle himself isn't around much lately, so Kimmuriel is currently the man you want to talk to. If I hook you up, what things from the surface would you offer me?"

Jiub understood now why non-drow were tolerated here - living underground would certainly limit one's resources. The drow probably viewed trading with surface populations as a necessary evil. No wonder Chzirae said they wanted to conquer the Lands Above. "I have foreign coin, but it can be melted into whatever you desire. I have a few gems that are universal in currency, I think. And, I have information regarding one of the surviving Velve'Xukuth siblings to exchange with whoever can help me contact the other." Jiub matched the youth's cunning smirk.

))((

While the youth was busy making good on his hire, Bodil and Jiub had to rent a room at Narbondel's Shadow, an inn owned and operated by a human in Eastmyr's foreign neighborhood - the only area that Outlanders were allowed to stay in the drow city. It was comforting to be in the company of humans and dwarves to some extent, but they saw no other free elves.

"Too dangerous for them because they're hated most of all," the owner had told them at the bar one night as they ate their dinner. "Down here, surface elves are good for only two things - trophies and slaves. Be careful who you deal with, or you'll be caged and sold quicker than a wink."

"What about Bregan D'aerthe? Are they trustworthy?" Jiub had asked.

The owner chuckled. "No one down here is trustworthy. Bregan D'aerthe, they have a reputation to live up to, but they also have a lot of power - probably as much power as any male drow down here ever will. They watch the whole city, buying and selling information, and in a place like Menzoberranzan, information can be worth more than gold."

He rubbed down the counter and then turned to sweep the floor. "You look like you've got some drow blood in you somewhere, though. You should know things like this, right? All underground drow cities are like this to some extent. Not even the Eilistraeen communities can be considered fully trustworthy. People tend to think of them as the 'good' dark elves because they want to move the drow back to the surface peacefully rather than through conquest, but even they have to be ruthless to fight the Llothians."

Jiub was curious for a moment. "Half-drow ... would that be to my advantage here?"

"Not really. In their eyes, you are filth just like your friend there. You are tainted with some other kind of blood, and drow don't take kindly to defective offspring. They kill them." The owner traded his broom for a mop and bucket. "That's why it's so damned hard to knock them down and keep them down. Only the strong and intelligent survive in Menzoberranzan. Anything not up to par is disposable."

The dunmer was grateful to the human for his wisdom and experience on dealing with these different dark elves. He decided not to play the half-drow card after all.

When the youth returned to tell them he had arranged a meeting for them with Kimmuriel at the location where House Velve'Xukuth used to be, the thief paid the boy his wages and tried to console himself and Bodil that soon they would be going home.

))((

On the given day of the meeting, Bodil paced the grounds in front of the destroyed Velve'Xukuth fortress. It was nothing but a pile of rubble and a hole in the ground now. "Incredible isn't it? How in the name of Oblivion did she survive that? Looks a lot like what happened to some dwemer ruins," he muttered as he looked down into the small crater of melted rock that encased fragments of what had apparently been a grand architectural design.

"That's why the Empire wants drow assassins to do their dirty work for them. If they can do that kind of damage to an armed fortress, imagine what they will do to her."

Bodil winced slightly and looked to Jiub. "Let's ... not talk about it like that okay? This is Chizrae we're talking about. She's a pain in the ass sometimes, but she's a hell of a fighter and …"

"Don't worry. We want it to be clean and painless."

"Assassinations should always be clean, but never painless," a male drow spoke from behind them.

Jiub and Bodil were both caught off-guard by his silent, sudden appearance. This drow had long silken white hair and somewhat delicate features. He wore a dark red, sleeveless tunic with one fastening at mid-chest, a gold serpentine arm band, and black leather pants and boots. He looked harmless and small, but his face bore a disturbingly amused expression, considering what he had just said. Jiub was also surprised to hear him speak in their native language. Then, he saw that this drow wore a language amulet just like Chizrae's. "Kimmuriel Oblodra of Bregan D'aerthe?"

Kimmuriel moved toward them with a slow, cool stride. "I hear that you are seeking the Elderboy of the defunct House Velve'Xukuth. If I understand correctly, you are willing to trade his sister's whereabouts in order to learn his." He came to a stop directly in front of them.

"That's correct." Jiub used the opportunity to size-up this mysterious mercenary whose thief organization seemed to reign supreme. Something bothered him, though. Kimmuriel didn't look like a thief. He wore no armor and carried no gadgets to get him out of tight spots - no knives or daggers, no pouches for lockpicks or probes. He was too small and thin to be a warrior, but seemed too bereft of magical garb to be a wizard.

Kimmuriel regarded the two surface elves with thinly veiled disgust. "How familiar are you with the predicament of houseless males in drow societies, ...?"

"Jiub," the lighter-skinned dark elf supplied his name to fill in the blank pause. "And not very."

Kimmuriel didn't bother to repeat the name, but he filed it away in his mind for later use. "When a house is destroyed, all of its noble members are slaughtered. The servants and slaves are absorbed into the work force of the victorious house in exchange for having their lives spared. Once in a while, however, a noble manages to fall through the cracks. Houseless males are particularly worthless in the eyes of the matriarchy and have no power in this city at all, ... unless they come to us. In Bregan D'aerthe, we take care of our own ... to some extent." The drow gave a small, sardonic smirk - as if the nature of that care was left open to interpretation. "If Daerazal Velve'Xukuth was one of our houseless males, I would not give away a good operative lightly. I would need to know your purpose before I would consider your proposition."

Jiub decided it was probably best not to double-talk the drow - especially on his turf in this city. "I wish to hire him for an assassination."

Kimmuriel didn't even blink. "Go on."

"I come from outer realms, … from a land called Morrowind of the Empire of Tamriel. His sister, Chizrae Velve'Xukuth, came to our land and collaborated with the Empire to fake the first half of a very important prophecy in order to destroy a powerful evil in the land. To everyone's surprise, she succeeded, and she is now becoming quite the popular hero. The second half of the prophecy, however, foretells that she will end up returning the land to the native people of Morrowind, honoring the old ways, and forcing the rest of the Empire out. While the Empire was happy to have her help with the first half of the prophecy, they now need to fix the second half so that it doesn't come true. But you can't assassinate a prophesied savior without angering a lot of people. In fact, if this isn't handled discreetly, her death might actually cause the revolt that the Empire fears. We want this to be quiet and clean with no blood on the Empire's hands. She's incredibly magic resistant and hard to pin in combat, so we figured there was no better choice for the job than another drow. Chizrae has told me that her brother once tried to kill her. Since I know where to find her, I thought we might work out a deal that could make both of us happy. What we offer would fit into his original design, ... would it not?"

_"Quiensen ful biezz coppon quangolth cree a drow."_ Kimmuriel smoothly answered. "'Doomed are those who believe they understand the designs of the drow.' I will meet you here tomorrow with an answer. _Alluve_." The mysterious thief turned and walked away without pressing for any further details.

"He seems totally unprotected compared to everyone else in this place, yet I see no magic on him," Bodil remarked in a hushed tone as they watched him leave. "Something about that makes me nervous."

Jiub was not comforted to know that Bodil had noticed it, too.

))((

"They want me to what?"

"Kill your sister," Kimmuriel reported. "You tried once before and failed, so you're being given a second chance."

"I was given a second chance a long time ago." Daerazal moved from the center of his room to his bunk and dropped onto his bed, resting his hands behind his head. "I've got better things to do than hunt down my sister for other people."

The lieutenant approached the side of his operative's bed and stared down at him. "This surface filth came to us from another world. I want nothing to do with their affairs either, but an open portal into Menzoberranzan could be an unsheathed knife in the back of Bregan D'aerthe. We need to at least follow up on it and close it."

Daerazal met his reserved expression with a slight frown. Kimmuriel became head of the Bregan D'aerthe operations after Jarlaxle's mysterious disappearance, but he had never explained what happened to his leader, and no one dared to question him about it. And Daerazal had learned that dealing with Kimmuriel could be just as tricky as dealing with Jarlaxle himself. "Are you ordering me to accept this assignment as a means of scouting the portal's connections?"

"I am."

"And if I refuse?"

"All they care about is ridding themselves of a potential rebellion. Any of our top-notch assassins would do, but he specifically asked for you. If you had not come back to Menzoberranzan after your little excursions in Skullport and the Promenade, I would have accepted the contract anyway and sent someone else in your name. Considering how they used Chizrae to pose as someone else for their own little prophecy, I'm sure they would appreciate the irony." Kimmuriel smirked. "An ex-Llothian is a small price to pay for knowledge of a potential threat. The choice, of course, is up to you. They are expecting an answer tomorrow."

Daerazal waited until his lieutenant disappeared through a shimmering portal that appeared behind him. Then, he waited for the portal to disappear as well. "Choice? What choice?" he grumbled to himself. Either he would be sent to kill Chizrae and close the portal, or someone else would. The former Elderboy of House Velve'Xukuth closed his eyes, ran a hand through his wispy white hair, and allowed his thoughts to slip back in time.

))((

_His _piwafwi_ cloak flowing behind him in blackish purple wave, Daerazal marched down the polished obsidian and black marble corridor with a scowl already written on his face in anticipation of what news he was about to receive. The Elderboy, the only noble son of Matron Sevlessa Velve'Xukuth, had been summoned to his mother's audience, and that was rarely a good thing. When he reached the ornately carved spider art on the double doors of the meeting room, however, he paused in hesitation._

_One of the guards standing to the side of entrance opened it for him, thinking he was waiting to be served as the reason for his halting step._

_"I can open it myself, fool," Daerazal growled, pushing the guard back and flinging the door open against him before sweeping past him into the main audience chamber. Before him, in the light of a single candle, stood his mother, the stern matriarch of the nineteenth noble house of Menzoberranzan. Five of his sisters - drow priestesses, her honor and glory - flanked to her right according to their rank. Her three favored males - the House Weapons Master, the House Wizard, and her favorite consort of the week - flanked to her left. All of them gathered together like that filled Daerazal with an immediate sense of dread, but he continued forward and dropped to one knee, bowing low before the priestesses, as was the standard protocol for all male drow in Menzoberranzan, including Elderboys. His long, shaggy hair cascaded forward over his shoulders and face as he waited in silence, not speaking until spoken to first._

_"You're late," one of the flanking priestesses snapped at him._

_"_Vendui', malla Illharess lueth yathrin_," Daerazal formally greeted them. "I had matters to attend, but came as soon as I could," he answered his elder sister's wrath._

_"The next time you're late arriving to our summons, you shall _BE_ the matter to attend!" Gheirxha spat as she stepped forward and thrust a scroll under her brother's chin, using the end of it to coax him to look up at her. Of his five siblings, Ghierxha was the most critical of his every move, and the one he avoided the most. She was constantly baiting him into overstepping his boundaries. Beneath the white curtain of hair that hid his expression, Daerazal's jaw set. To look up would mean disobeying the rules regarding eye contact taught to him by his mother. To not look up meant disobeying an order from a priestess and older sister. The Elderboy chose to refuse his sister's command for his mother's, and while he refused to look up, he prayed that his mother would see this in her favor, rather than allowing his sister to punish him for it. Gheirxha snorted in disgust at losing the battle of wit and will and dropped the scroll on the floor at his foot, instead of handing it to him, before returning to her station by her mother._

_The Elderboy bit back any scathing remarks he wished to make, picked up the scroll, and opened it. The candle's dim light enabled him to see that it was a map. "Reiden's Outpost?" He looked up in confusion. Gheirxha's eyes bore into his, and she smiled with glee as she started to reach for the writhing snake-headed whip that coiled about her belt and thigh. Daerazal quickly averted his gaze back to the floor, cursing himself for his stupid mistake._

_"Gheirxha," Matron Sevlessa spoke harshly, halting her daughter with a single word._

_The high priestess gave her brother a look of contempt and warning. He had lucked out this time because of more pressing matters._

_"A handmaiden has finally granted a vision," Matron Sevlessa continued. "Daerazal, you are to find this place among the surface trade routes of the upper regions," she informed him with a piercing glare. "Locate the stolen jade spiders and their spell and bring them back. Bring back the thief as well - alive for atonement to Lloth at __our__ hands."_

_The Elderboy studied the map with distaste, barely able to read it because of the candle light making his sensitive eyes squint. He much preferred the softer light of glowglobes with luminescent moss or fish in them. Surface traders? This was a job for the common ranks. "I will put someone on it right away."_

_"_Khaless nau!_ You will take care of it yourself!" his Matron's voice shrieked in a sudden burst of temper. "_You_ are the one who let Chizrae escape her delivery to the Spider Queen!"_

_Daerazal nearly looked up again in surprise, but caught himself this time. Chizrae had escaped?_

_Though she could not see his face for his bowed position, Matron Sevlessa drank in his silence as an expression of shock. "Yes, Elderboy. Chizrae still lives," she purred with a snarl. "Jereassien 's heart was not enough to pay for their crimes. Do you know what that means? That means that he was not the assassin! _That _is why Lloth has not been giving us aid! All this time, and our name is still marred with blame because you let Chizrae escape her execution, Daerazal!"_

_The Elderboy remained calm and chose his words carefully. "I was _told _to fatally wound her and leave her to the humans. That is what I did. If she survived that stab to the back, it is because someone up there saved her, not because I failed in my duty to you, Matron." His gaze went to Fydenihan, the sister in the age line above him and the largest of the females in the room. It was she who had given him the secretive orders to assassinate their youngest sibling and leave her to die in disgrace among the human remains of the village they had raided. But apparently their blasphemous baby sister had somehow survived in spite of their judgment upon her._

_Fydenihan immediately recognized the blame her younger brother was placing on her shoulders, and in a flash, she was standing directly in front of him, snatching him up by the collar of his piwafwi. "She escaped because _you_ failed to kill her! You might have wounded her, but she obviously was not _dead_!" she hissed._

_Daerazal looked her in the eye and gave a snort of amusement. "So now _I'm_ to carry the blame for the theft of the jade spider spell and the assassination of the old wizard, as well?"_

_Fydenihan's glowing red eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. It was the only warning Daerazal had before he felt the crunch of a spiked leather-gauntlet raking backhanded across his face, nearly jarring his jaw out of joint. He reached an ebon hand to touch the warm trickle that ran down his chin and rubbed the painful jawbone. The large female wore a dangerous expression almost daring him to draw weapons on her after making eye contact like that._

_"Enough!" Matron Sevlessa stepped forward to the feuding siblings. "You forget your respect, Daerazal!"_

_That phrase struck a sharp nerve with him now, as it had when Chizrae had cut him with her unlawful blade. But, Daerazal was prudently obedient above all else, when it was to his gain to behave so. He lowered his gaze and once more knelt low. "My apologies, _Illharess_," he begrudgingly offered._

_"Because of Chizrae's escape from punishment, Lloth has refused to aid us in our defense against this entrapment, … until now." Matron Sevlessa smiled wickedly. "The spiteful child has been located in visions, but is beyond our physical grasp for some reason. We suspect she is on another plane. Still, locating her has been enough to regain one chance from the Spider Queen to redeem ourselves of this disaster - a vision linking the stolen jade spider spell to the trading post on that map. There is a tavern in which several surface dwelling adventurers will gather with drow to depart on a caravan mission." _

_Matron Sevlessa produced a scroll and proceeded to read aloud the intricate detail of each person in the vision. When she was done she rerolled the scroll and tossed it to his feet. "You will find this caravan band and ferret out their secrets until you find the thief. The fact remains that we are running out of time before any number of other houses watching our weaknesses will declare open warfare upon us. Our enemies know we are questionable in Lloth's favor since the theft and abduction at Sorcere. Since you failed to see your sister's wretched head removed to its proper end, it will be up to you to amend your failure. Find the spell. Find the spiders. And find the thieving assassin. Do _not _come back without them! Or I promise I shall offer _you _as the next sacrifice to buy more time!"_

_Daerazal had no doubt in his mind that she would fulfill that promise, too. "I shall not fail my Matron, ... or my Queen," he promised with a cold, cruel growl as he snatched up the scroll with the descriptions._

_"See to it that you don't," his mother sneered._

))((

The following "day" while Daerazal waited at his house ruins with Kimmuriel for the two surface elves to arrive, he stood at the wall overlooking the crater that had nearly cost him his life. With his house destroyed and Matron Sevlessa gone, there was no reason for him to hunt his sister again. He wondered if it was worth it, but then remembered Kimmuriel's threat if he did not comply. In many ways, Kimmuriel and Jarlaxle had saved his life and given him a safehaven. In other ways, they were merely an extension of his former servitude. But at least in Bregan D'aerthe, he did enjoy a certain amount of freedom, and he often had room to bargain. "What if I were to agree to this deal, but then ... miss my target?"

Kimmuriel leaned on the wall beside his agent and studied the lines drawn on Daerazal's face. "It matters to you that your sister lives?"

"I see no point in killing her."

"They fear she will cause a rebellion."

"Their problems have nothing to do with us."

Kimmuriel shrugged. "Kill her, warn her, aid her escape and kill them instead ... I really don't care what you do as long as that portal is closed. My concern is an assessment of what lies beyond it and that it stays shut once this matter is attended." The smaller drow of the pair looked up and saw their contacts approaching. "Surface idiots have no idea how to tell time by Narbondel," he muttered unhappily at their lateness.

))((

Jiub sized-up Chizrae's brother as he approached, amused at how much they looked alike. Daerazal's shaggy hair was currently chin-length and razor-cut so that it feathered and spiked around his head in a casual manner. His height was perhaps a little shorter than his sister's, but his lean, muscular body definitely looked more capable of the strength it would take to overpower her. This was good. "Daerazal Velve'Xukuth? My name is Jiub. Were you filled in on why we wish to hire you?"

"Yes."

"The decision to go or stay is up to him," Kimmuriel informed them, as if his private conversation with Daerazal had never taken place. At the far end of the ruins, another drow approached, but stopped. It was another member of Bregan D'aerthe come to give him a message. "Excuse me one moment."

Daerazal watched Kimmuriel walk away to attend other short business, but then faced Jiub and Bodil again. "So, ... let me get this straight. Chizrae has done a favor for this Empire, but now they're afraid she will lead a revolt against them; so they want to take her down before she can do that."

Jiub nodded. "That's the short version, yes."

"And with a whole Empire backing you, no one could take her down?"

"I'm afraid you don't understand the scale of the events." Jiub smiled and tried to explain. "Chizrae went into Red Mountain to bring down an entire house of cursed ash creatures and a powerful immortal all by herself. It's not unreasonable to say that she's a considerable force to be reckoned with. We are not cowards quaking in her footsteps, I assure you; but the situation with the prophecy was such that the Empire couldn't send in an army to do it. Many people in Morrowind now believe she is the incarnate of General Nerevar that the Nerevarine Prophecy foretold; so they are not only grateful, but her popularity is rising. To send in anyone from the Imperial forces now to take her down would risk setting her up as a martyr and reveal their hand in putting her up to it. To send in someone else like me, ... well, ... she took on Red Mountain by herself," Jiub repeated with a hint of admiration that even he could not deny. "Not even ash creatures tracking her through her dreams and surprising her in her sleep were able to assassinate her. So, it appears the best way to end General Nerevar's brief return to glory is to seek someone more familiar with Chizrae's tactics, abilities, ... _weaknesses._ There's much more to it than that, of course, but I can explain it better once we take you back with us."

The drow warrior glanced back toward the rubble that was once his former home.

Jiub could almost imagine the memories that flashed through his mind.

Finally, Daerazal sighed. "I'll do it," he quietly agreed.

"Do you have a price in mind for your services, or is this something that is payment enough in the end?"

"It is payment enough in the end," Daerazal darkly answered. "Where I can find her?"

Jiub removed Talvalo's teleporting key from his necklace and passed it to Daerazal. "This is the key to her home. It will teleport you right inside the front door. No one will see you arrive. When you've done the deed, use this." The thief showed him the cave teleporting ring. "It will teleport you to my hideout, so that no one sees you leave. I have only one ring, so we have to leave this place together, but I can give it to you for the job once we're in Morrowind. At my hideout, there is a book that can teleport you back to Menzoberranzan when our deal is done," Jiub outlined the plan, making it sound easy.

Daerazal accepted the key. "A book is what teleported you here?"

"Yes. In fact, you might want to bring her here to do the job, if you prefer. No signs of foul play and mysterious disappearances are always best. I will be checking to make sure she is dead though, to be sure our little problem child doesn't come back to haunt us."

"She has a way of doing that," the former Elderboy grumbled.

"Oh, and there is ... one more thing. Her husband, ... he's a werewolf. We're hoping he'll be gone by the time you get there, but you might want to beware, just in case. I have some silver daggers if you need one before you risk an encounter with him."

"Husband?" Daerazal's white brows rose in surprise. "She's married?"

Jiub couldn't help but chuckle. "Shocking, I know."

"Not any more shocking than her last flavor of the month, I guess, but ... _married_?" He scratched his head and was completely puzzled on that one.

Jiub was fully aware of why. Chizrae had explained to him that drow hardly ever married. It was seen as a foolish bond, just like love itself. In his peripheral vision, he noticed Kimmuriel had parted ways with the messenger and was now returning to their business. His curiosity got the better of him, and he nodded toward the leader of the organization, but lowered his voice to Daerazal. "By the way, how does he manage to survive down here? No offense, but it looks like Bodil and I could shake him down for all he's worth. And yet for him to be in charge of such a reputable guild …"

Daerazal smirked. "Kimm's a psionicist."

"A what?"

"Psionicist - one of the strongest I know of, too. His mind is so strong he can penetrate almost anything and manipulate its structure - even time and space. He can fortify his body by sheer willpower, without the need for magic or armor. Kimm was once the son of a noble house, too. His entire house was psionic, though psionicists tend to be rare in general. The goddess herself devoured his mother and sisters for their arrogance and defiance. House Oblodra is now nothing more than haunted ruins at the bottom of the trench that nearly sucked it into the Abyss." Daerazal sat back against the crumbled wall of his former home and delivered a cool warning to them. "Don't fuck with Kimmuriel Oboldra, … or you _will_ die."

Jiub nodded in reserved gratitude for that warning and turned to Bodil to interpret the conversation into their own native language, since Daerazal did not wear any magical aid to help his communications the way his lieutenant did. Bodil was relieved to be updated on Daerazal's acceptance of their offer, but unhappy to get wind of what it was that had made him wary of the otherwise non-intimidating mercenary leader.

"Have you reached a decision?" Kimmuriel asked when he arrived back in their circle.

"I'll go." Daerazal told him and faced his new allies. "I'll send a message when I'm ready."

"We're staying at Narbondel's Shadow, but we'll meet again here to leave," Jiub suggested.

Daerazal and Kimmuriel turned to go, but then Daerazal smirked again and stopped. "Kimm, ... they've never seen what a psionicist can do. Could you ..."

A sadistic gleam touched the ruby-red eyes of the willowy framed drow male, and he sought something nearby to use in demonstration. "There."

Jiub and the other two elves spotted a kobold happily humming to himself as he dragged a dead giant rat through the streets toward the Braeryn slums.

"Kobolds ..." the psionicist said with a flat expression that was almost a sigh. "My house once had hundreds of the dog-faced, reptilian little nuisances as slaves. I hated them. Annoying little target practice rejects," he muttered under his breath and frowned. Without lifting a finger, speaking a word, or using any artifacts, Kimmuriel's mind reached out to the kobold's body and penetrated his flesh down to a microscopic level.

The kobold stopped in confusion and looked down at his tummy. "Uh? Ooooh-uhhhh," the kobold groaned and dropped the rat's tail as he began to feel quite sick. Then his eyes widened, his nostrils flared, and he gripped his stomach in pain. "Ayayayayayaya!" He clawed and dug at himself to try to get rid of the burning sensation, but nothing he did could stop it.

"I don't get it," Jiub said what Bodil was thinking. "What's he supposed to be doing?"

Daerazal explained. "He's agitating the structure of the kobold's body, increasing the speed and friction of his matter."

He had no sooner said it than the kobold suddenly exploded. Melted flesh splattered and dropped in all directions from the spot where he once stood, but just looking at the remains it would have been difficult to tell that it had ever been a kobold.

Kimmuriel calmly looked past Daerazal to Jiub and Bodil, but then slowly smiled. "That kill wasn't clean, but I assure you it was quite painful," he spoke in their language, answering the comment from yesterday. Turning his unarmored back to the two surface elves, the psionicist walked away unconcerned.

Daerazal chuckled to himself at the expressions Kimmuriel's little demonstration had left on the other two elves faces. Then, he turned to walk away, too, following in the footsteps of his lieutenant commander.

"Well, if her brother fails to deliver, we know who else we can ask to do it," Bodil uneasily commented, staring at the kobold splatter as a giant spider found it. There was nothing left of the kobold, so it had come to claim the rat.

))((

In his room within the Bregan D'aerthe network of warrens in the Clawrift, Daerazal stared at the key in his dark hand.

"Second thoughts?" Kimmuriel spoke behind him, making his agent jump in his seat.

Daerazal's heart thudded against his ribs for a brief moment. "I hate it when you do that," he scowled. "Why can't you use a door like everyone else?"

"Why walk the distance when I can use your mind to find you instead?" The psionicist pulled up a chair and slouched into it. "Is that the item that will take you to their world?"

"This goes to Chizrae's house. There is a ring that goes to their lair."

"And do they have a means of coming back here?"

"A teleporting book."

Kimmuriel leaned forward and waited until he had Daerazal's attention. "I want to see what's on the other side once you've had a chance to scout it. My teleportation skills weaken over great distances, but I should be able to use dream travel to find you, so be expecting it. Once I have marked the place in my mind, I will leave you to your task."

Daerazal became wary. "This is a personal matter between me and Chizrae. If you're thinking of bringing Bregan D'aerthe to Morrowind -"

Kimmuriel frowned with disdain and leaned back crossing an ankle over his knee. "I couldn't stand being on the surface _here_. Why would I want to take my business to the surface _there_? I just want to make sure this isn't a ploy for something greater. It wouldn't be the first time Menzoberranzan was at risk for an invasion, but if that's the case, I'm sure House Baenre would like to know about it, … for a price, of course. Also, I want a means of reaching you, if necessary - if you change your mind or need help." He added the last bit with a rather tongue-in-cheek smirk.

Daerazal was not amused. "I can handle Chizrae. I'm the one that taught her how to fight before she started seeing our weapons master, ... although I've never taken on a werewolf before. Taking on both of them at once might be a challenge."

"There are others who would be happy to do the job for you, if you'd rather not."

"She's _my_ sister. I will handle this."

Kimmuriel rested his elbows on his propped leg and pressed his fingertips together. "I'm confident you will keep Bregan D'aerthe's best interests in mind, … whatever you decide."

Daerazal knew that was a warning, more than a vote of confidence. He looked back to the key in his hand as the psionicist stood, opened a portal for himself, and stepped through it to return to his private chambers.

))((

In those private chambers, after a moment of thought, Kimmuriel teleported elsewhere to one of his other operatives' rooms. "I would like for you to collect information on Chizrae Velve'Xukuth."

The drow agent in the room sat up with interest. "Velve'Xukuth? That house is defunct."

"But before it was destroyed, there were disputes between houses Velve'Xukuth, Ryd'Alsdan, and Agrach Dyrr. The only one left, of course, is Agrach Dyrr. After the war, Daerazal went to Skullport for a while, and then went on to the Elistraeen Promenade for a short time. Agrach Dyrr happens to have connections in Skullport and a daughter that converted from Lloth to the goddess Eilistraee. Use her to track down his contacts and see if any of them are familiar with his sister. Find out anything you can about her time between leaving Menzoberranzan and showing up in Morrowind."

))((

Author's Note:

To clear up some discrepancies for die-hard Underdark fans, I wrote this story BEFORE the War of the Spider Queen series, so none of those changes have taken place yet. Agrach Dyrr is an official house in the Menzoberranzan game world. Ryd'Alsdan is my creation. Reiden's Outpost is from a game setting and map that I gleaned from a website many years ago. I never dreamed I would be mentioning it in a fanfic, so I did not take down the name of the person who created it. Thank you to whoever created it. It gave me and my players months of great campaign play.

Jarlaxle, Kimmuriel, and Bregan D'aerthe are creations of R.A. Salvatore and property of Wizards of the Coast's _Forgotten Realms_ books and games. I don't claim them in _any_ way, though they are so kick-ass that I wish I could. (Kimmuriel rocks. Just saying.)


	16. Chapter 16: Dark Memories

Chapter 16: Dark Memories

On the day that Daerazal was to leave for Morrowind with Jiub and Bodil, he returned to the site where they had previously met, but this time he returned alone. As he waited in anticipation of traveling to a distant and unfamiliar world, he leaned on the broken wall surrounding his former home and stared down at some of the pebbles under his boot. He and Chizrae were like those pebbles - scattered remains. But scattered remains of what? Ruins?

The first time he tried to kill her, he relished the task because he was awarded her station. The second time he tried to kill her, he found himself just as betrayed as she had been. But the last time they found each other, she had been the one hunting him.

))((

_"Chizrae?" Daerazal was uncertain that the drow he just passed was really her._

_Her narrow eyes widened, and her black hand touched the strands of white, wet hair that still stuck to her face and neck uncomfortably. The exiled drowess cringed at her own stupidity, forgetting to hide her identity with a hood or hat. But when she turned to see who had called her name, her fear of being identified quickly changed to a snarl of bitter anger. The drowess strode forward, drew her longsword, and grasped her brother's throat, shoving him into the darkest shadows of a narrow alley between the shop fronts. With an expression of pure hate, the only greeting she offered him was to thrust him forcefully against the rock wall. "In spite of everything, the gods still smile on me to deliver you into my hands, dear brother. I don't believe I ever thanked you for stabbing me in the back and leaving me on the surface to die!" She let go of his throat just long enough to slug him across the jaw and deliver a kick to his groin. _

_Daerazal was so stunned at his sister's sudden reappearance that he was not only caught off-guard for her attack, but trapped in the habit of obedience once more. He dropped to one knee, both from pain and to bow, not even noticing that her black blade flashed above the back of his head ready to swing down for the kill._

_The male human that had been walking with Daerazal winced in response. "That's gotta hurt. Hey, I'd move before you get a splitting headache - literally. Who is she anyway? A jealous lover?"_

_Chizrae growled incredulously and turned her blade on the human. "Watch your tongue, or I will split it like a serpent's!"_

_Daerazal drew a deep breath and reminded himself that Chizrae was no longer a Llothian priestess. He used her distraction as an opportunity to try to straighten. "Chiz-"_

_Chizrae caught the movement in her peripheral vision and dropped the sword just short of Daerazal's neck again, then turned the blade flat to exert pressure, instead. "I didn't say you could stand up," she hissed. _

_"I didn't ask permission!" Overcoming a lifetime of indoctrination to never strike a priestess, his arm shot up to hers and locked onto it. He rolled toward her legs to throw her balance, but she jumped to the side and tore free from his grip. When she brought the adamantine blade to bear once more, it clanged against his own sword, now raised in his defense against her. "She's no lover. She's my youngest sister," he gruffly answered the other man's question as he ignored the blood that trickled down his lip._

_Daerazal straightened, his full height, keeping her sword arm immobile by the strength and position of his block. "Chizrae, … House Velve'Xukuth has been accused of stealing the jade guardians, and-"_

_" I don't give a damn about House Velve'Xukuth! I came to kill _you_!" She withdrew from his block and came in hard for another attack._

_Daerazal dodged and defended against the surprisingly fast cuts. His baby sister's blade skills had improved since he had last sparred with her, thanks to her affair with the weapons master. "Chizrae, stop! I'm not your enemy anymore!"_

_Chizrae spun toward her sibling, waited for him to lock swords in a block once more, then drew a dagger with her free hand and stabbed it down into his forearm._

_Daerazal gritted his teeth and pushed her back long enough to pull out the dagger and snap it to the ground behind him. Pushing her into the wall, he pinned her by the shoulder and held his sword's razor-sharp edge to her throat. "Listen to me!" he commanded with a snarl. "House Baenre has your lost wardstone, and it is covered in the blood of the Arch-mage Emeritus! You are the accused thief of the jade guardians, Chizrae!"_

_Instantly, Chizrae's half-elf companion moved behind Daerazal, his sword moving from his scabbard to his hand to the base of her brother's neck. "If I see one drop of her blood, yours will decorate these walls, 'dear brother'." Khyron's teeth clenched as he controlled his urge to strike, reminding himself that this drow's life was not his to take, … yet._

_"He speaks the truth," the human man with Daerazal told them._

_Chizrae ignored the human and continued to glare daggers at her sibling. "Truth? Daerazal wouldn't know the truth if it bit him in the ass." She looked relieved to see Khyron behind him, but she couldn't struggle to free herself, or she would risk cutting her own throat on her brother's blade._

_"I don't want to spill her blood. I need her alive," Daerazal answered, though he dare not take his eyes off of his sister. Physically, he was still the stronger of the pair, but he realized he no longer knew her tactical strengths and weaknesses. "Call off your pet, so we can talk without blades between us," he told her._

_"He's not my pet," she spat, insulted. "Khyron came with me of his own ..." She paused, meeting the half-elf's eyes over her brother's shoulder, and her tone smoothed into something that almost sounded apologetic. "I mean, I accidentally ..." But then her attention immediately and angrily snapped back to her brother. "Never mind why he's here! At least he has a mind of his own, which is more than I can say for you! You just blindly obey whatever Matron Sevlessa tells you to do!"_

_"Matron Sevlessa can go to to the nine hells," Daerazal hissed in response. Steadying his breathing from the exertion of the fight, he lowered his voice. "I no longer serve her or Lloth. When I couldn't find you, she was going to sacrifice me, and -"_

_"Aww, I'm so sorry to hear that, dear brother," Chizrae pouted in mock sympathy. "What a shame. And after you were so loyal to them, too."_

_Daerazal's lip curled in a snarl. It was tempting to end her mockery right here and now, but he remembered the half-elf was still behind him. "Matron Sevlessa knows you're still alive because she had a vision from one of Lloth's handmaidens. She sent me to Reiden's Outpost because the vision also said the thief was hiding there, but I realize now that -"_

_"Reiden's what? Where the hell is -" _

_An explosion interrupted their argument, rocking the buildings around them, prompting everyone to cover their heads and steady their feet, irregardless of defensive postures._

_As echoes rang mercilessly throughout the city cavern, Daerazal looked at his sister, and an ominous feeling washed over him that he couldn't explain._

_Chizrae grasped her brother's injured sword arm with an expression of dread. "House war?" she breathed._

_Daerazal released her and darted out of the alley to scan Menzoberranzan as another explosion thundered throughout the grotto. The cries of slave beasts on the attack could be heard in its wake. Turning back to the human he'd been walking with, the Elderboy passed him Vithranduil's scroll with the information concerning Heidric Yumas. "Go to Daenitiz's without me. It's right across the street. While you're there, don't forget to ask them if they know where Vithranduil went." He clapped him on the back for good luck, then sprinted toward the source of the explosions._

_It was as he feared. House Velve'Xukuth was under siege. The guards at the front gate lay poison-darted and dead, but darkness spells blotted the rest of the nineteenth noble house from the watchful eyes of the city. In spite of that, crowds of excited onlookers gathered on balconies and in the streets, as if the spectacle of house war were a parade._

_Chizrae arrived at the scene only seconds behind him. With a visible shudder, she clutched her companion's arm and listened to the destruction taking place within the walls of their fortress compound._

_"There's nothing we can do," Khyron told her, protectively drawing her close._

_Daerazal and Chizrae both knew he was right. Going in there for any reason would be suicide, … but it was their home._

_The Elderboy was distracted for a moment by the unusual sight of his sister in the arms of a pale-skinned half-elf. Apparently he wasn't the only one in their family beginning to learn the value of companionship with - rather than ownership of - other races. But as the fortress resounded with more explosive battle magic intended to bring down the fortified walls, Daerazal returned to his overwhelmed feelings of shock, despair, hate, ... and helplessness._

_"You there!" A dark figure angrily stormed toward them._

_"Quick! We have to get out of here, or they'll kill us too!" Daerazal urged his sister and the half-elf, trying to push them away._

_"Did any of you see who launched this attack without permission?" the dark figure shouted as she continued to gain on them._

_Daerazal paused, surprised. "Without ... permission?" He turned to face the towering, scale-armor-clad drowess that confronted them. He'd never seen another drow like her. Cold shadows hugged her so closely that the only light on her face came from the glow of faerie fire from the nearby noble houses and shops. Her body emitted no warm colors of its own, but her eyes were luminous with an internal white glow. This furious priestess demanding information about an unauthorized house war … was undead. "This is _not_ the punishment of the Council of Eight?" he dared to ask._

_"This attack was not ordained by _Lloth_!" the unusual drowess snapped, reminding him that the Council of Eight answers to the goddess. "Whoever attacked this house has broken the law of Lloth's Peace! I am Jaggedra Thul of Lloth's Hand of Vengeance, sent from the Abyss to oversee House Velve'Xukuth's judgment. _No one_ is to start a house war in this city without my consent! If you are witnesses, speak!"_

_From the Abyss ... A denizen sent from Lloth herself ... Daerazal no longer served Lloth, but seeing Jaggedra served at once to remind him of his possibly fatal forgetfulness concerning required etiquette. To avoid advertising his heretical change of heart, the Elderboy made himself kneel to one knee and avoid her fiery eyes._

_Khyron remembered Chizrae's list of warnings he must adhere to if he were to stay alive and safe in Menzoberrazan. He, too, dropped to one knee and lowered his eyes._

_Chizrae clenched her teeth in resentment, but even she had to bow her head to this undead drowess, or she could be struck dead for heresy. "We did not witness the attack, _Malla Yathtallar._"_

_"But we are nobles of the house being attacked," Daerazal inserted, hoping to gain the right of accusation. He instantly received a kick to the ribs from his sister, and if he could have looked up from his kneeling position, he was sure it was followed by a reprimanding scowl - a look that would have told him to shut the hell up._

_The undead priestess cast the half-elf with them a disdainful look and drew her heavy flail into her clawed hand. She sneered at Daerazal's impertinence and used the end of her flail to hook Chizrae's chin, lifting her gaze to meet her own. "You are nobles of House Velve'Xukuth? Yet you are out here, rather than in there defending your Matron?"_

_Daerazal pressed his lips together and tried hard not to speak for Chizrae. That would be unforgivable in the eyes of the priestess, but he had no idea what kind of words would spill from his estranged sister's mouth._

_"_Xas, Malla Yathtallar_," Chizrae nervously answered above another fireball explosion that reverberated deep in the solid rock on which she stood._

_Daerazal felt it, too. The invaders must have cleared out the main floor and gone into the dungeons to open a back way in._

_Jaggedra did not overlook the possibility that they were among the conspirators. "Can you accuse the attacking house?"_

_"_Nau,_" Chizrae answered, but she was stunned to hear her brother answer, "yes" at the same time. She turned another scowl on him._

_"_Xas?_" Jaggedra moved to stand before the outspoken, kneeling male. "Explain!"_

_Daerazal choked down his nervousness, but kept his head bowed. "House Ryd'Alsdan - they're the ones that accused House Velve'Xukuth of stealing the jade guardians. They're the ones administering swift justice without permission to distract the Council of Eight from seeing their own guilt."_

_Jaggedra's eyes narrowed on him as she reached under his throat to grab his tunic and lift him off of his feet with unnatural strength._

_As he dared to look into the furious face of the dark, cold drowess, he realized whose clutches he had fallen into - vampire. "House Ryd'Alsdan has given evidence to prove Velve'Xukuth's guilt - a wardstone from Sixthgirl Chizrae, stained with the blood of the Arch-mage Emeritus. House Velve'Xukuth was nearly ready to be condemned to suffer Lloth's justice, but _not_ until I gave the command," she hissed._

_"With all due respect, _Malla Yathtallar, _that evidence is false," Daerazal dared to disagree with the undead priestess. "I have other evidence to prove it is Ryd'Alsdan who is deserving of condemnation. The wardstone belonged to Chizrae, but it was planted there by someone in House Ryd'Alsdan who wanted her to take the blame for it. I have the names of the true thieves, the name of the person who killed the Arch-mage, the gem in which his power lives, _and _the name of the person who stole the guardian spider statues. I have already given this evidence to Jarlaxle for safe keeping to present to the Council of Eight once the location of the jade spiders is known. If House Velve'Xukuth is destroyed in place of House Ryd'Alsdan, then the true thief will go free, and the jade guardians will _not _be recovered! They will be sold on the surface among the _darthir_ and _rivvil_! Lloth's artifacts among the surface races, … in the hands of the enemies ..." He tried to appeal to her hate._

_Jaggedra looked extremely displeased at this sacrilegious news, but she was cautious to too easily accept it as truth. The vampire dropped Daerazal back on his feet rather roughly, but then looked to Chizrae. "You are the _Rraunardalharil del Qu'ellar Velve'Xukuth_?" she guessed._

_Daerazal's eyes shifted under his shaggy bangs to his sister - a pleading expression for her to tell the truth._

_Chizrae's chest rose and fell with difficulty. " I am. I was meeting someone in secret when I must have dropped my wardstone. I didn't realize it was missing until I got home and tried to enter the compound," she confessed. "But I didn't kill the Arch-mage. I swear I didn't do it."_

_"Do you have a witness?"_

_"_Nau_," she quietly answered. "I mean, I did, but ... he was sacrificed."_

_"The Sixthgirl of the condemned house was a Priestess of Lloth who neglected her ovate studies in the temple to train as a lowly warrior at the hands of the weapon master Jereassein. She was forbidden to pursue this course against her matron's wishes, but she chose to see him in secret anyway. She was taken to the surface during a Blooding, and presumed to be killed in the battle. Yet you_ _are warm-blooded and alive." Jaggedra challenged, exposing her elongated canines in a wicked manner._

_Chizrae was not intimidated by this drowess's vampiric display. "I survived," she stiffly replied and cast an icy look to her brother, but he purposefully avoided her accusatory gaze._

_"Lloth blesses survivors, does she not?" Jaggedra gave a wry smile._

_Daerazal didn't know if this was a sincere question, a rhetorical one, or an ironic one. Since Lloth was the Queen of Chaos, he decided it was probably the latter._

_"_Kyorl jal bauth, kyone, lueth, lil Quarval-Sharess xal balbau dos lil belbol del elendar dro,_" Chizrae obediently recited one of her temple proverbs. _Watch all about, warily, and the goddess may give you the gift of continued life.

_Daerazal became aware that the battle noise was quieting from the explosions now. That meant the invaders had completely breached the walls and only the interior melee remained - the beheading of the nobles and the capture of their slaves. Hundreds of eyes from around the city still gazed upon the dark blots with awe and Bloodlust. They couldn't wait to see another family fortress razed to the ground. Though Lloth's Law of Peace had been established by the goddess to temporarily intervene in the population-dwindling, drow-on-drow house wars that had rapidly escalated in recent times, peace was too boring for the majority taste._

_Jaggedra listened as well for a moment, then turned her gaze from the darkness-cloaked noble house to the black-cloaked half-elf behind the two drow. As she stepped forward the two drow automatically shuffled back, and the avenger's boots stopped at Khyron. "Who's _rivvil _slave is this?"_

_"M-mine," Chizrae hesitantly answered, casting a nervous and apologetic glance to her companion._

_Jaggedra Thul grasped Khyron by his borrowed piwafwi and lifted him with unnatural ease. She stared deeply into his eyes for a moment before her cruel smile parted enough to display her fangs. But, the smile disappeared quickly enough as her study of his features led her to lift the hat and hair away from his temple with the tip of her flail and reveal a small sharp-tipped ear. "__"_Tu'rilthiir,_" she spat in disgust with visible hatred. __"You dare bring a half-elf _alive _in__to a city of Lloth?" _

_"He was to be sacrificed," Chizrae answered without skipping a beat._

_Daerazal could tell it was a lie the moment it slipped from her lips - the answer was too quick. He hoped the larger drowess wasn't interested in testing her on it._

_"Then he is the most disposable one here," Jaggedra agreed. "Order him to enter the complex and tell us if this wild accusation has any truth to it." _

_"He speaks some drow, but -"_

_"Is that so? Good." The vampire threw Khyron against something hard inside the magical darkness - the pitch, impenetrable darkness. It was half stone wall and half-iron gate. A small jolt of leftover lightning magic jumped into Khyron's limbs from the touch of the discharged ward. "Bring me the insignia of an invading house warrior, and I will consider summoning Lloth's ear to reconsider her judgment," she commanded. Then, she turned to Daerazal. "But if Jarlaxle denies your evidence that House Ryd'Alsdan has framed Velve'Xukuth and its Sixthgirl, you will both die by my own hand for wasting my time with lies."_

_The half-elf had no choice, but to obey. Khyron grimaced at the pain of the shock that dropped him back to his knees. After the stinging jolt passed, he stood and looked to Chizrae. Then, he drew his sword and slipped further into the inky darkness surrounding the embattled Velve'Xukuth fortress._

_"I would not dream of asking for the Spider Queen's mercy," Daerazal added, continuing to play his subservient role to the Llothian priestess, but then he gathered his courage to add one more thing. "As a surviving noble, wrongfully accused, we only demand justice. I am so sure of this claim that I will stand before Lloth and the Council and swear it is true." He glanced to Chizrae to see if she understood now that he was trying to save her, rather than kill her as he had been ordered. But Chizrae had not heard him. Her frightened eyes focused on the darkness that Khyron had been cast into. If the fighting was not completely over yet, ... he would not survive._

))((

"Daerazal," a gruff voice called his name.

The drow blinked and snapped out of his dark memories to look over his shoulder. Jiub and Bodil were ready to depart from Menzoberranzan. Daerazal hefted his bag of necessities onto his back and nodded. He didn't know how long he would be in Morrowind, or what he would need, ... or even if he would be able to come back. Oddly enough, he found himself preferring to trust Kimmuriel to enhance his odds of coming home.

Jiub pulled the cavern ring from his pocket, Bodil placed a hand on Jiub's shoulder, and Daerazal copied Bodil's gesture to be included in the magic. In a swirl of arcane energy, all three of them were drawn through a magical weave between the planes of the Outer Realms. When the magic abruptly ended, they were standing in the abandoned cavern near the front entrance.

Bodil sighed in dramatic relief and turned to kiss the rock wall next to him. "Home sweet home! Thank you to all the gods of Tamriel and their little daedra, too!" Laughing aloud, glad that the ordeal of Menzoberranzan was over, he clapped the drow on the shoulder. "Make yourself at home," he said with a grin. Then, he walked up the incline toward the makeshift kitchen area to start a fire in the stone stove.

Daerazal had not understood the bosmer's words - an obstacle he had not considered before. The only person he could understand now was Jiub.

"Here. You look like you could use a translator." The dunmer thief removed Chizrae's language amulet from his neck and handed it to her brother.

Daerazal studied it for a moment before recognizing what it was. But then he dropped the chain over his own head, as he followed Jiub and Bodil into the larger cavern areas to the lantern and book they had left behind.

"This is a dwemer teleporting book," Jiub explained. "It's your return trip home. All you have to do is touch it. If you need to move it and aren't ready to zap your way back yet, just cover it with this cloth to nullify its magic. There's food in the crates and a bed of straw at the back. Oh, and here's this." Jiub gave him the cavern teleporting ring. "Wherever you are, this will bring you back here. You could always walk, but then you'd have to go through the tomb on the other side of that door, and ancestor guardians haunt it. They're a pain in the ass to get rid of every time you want to come and go." He folded his arms as he studied the drow for a moment. "Hope you don't mind my assuming that sleeping next to a tomb won't bother someone like you, … considering where you're from and all."

"Not as long as the guardians stay on the other side." Daerazal pocketed the teleporting ring with the key he'd been given earlier.

Bodil poured himself, and then his companions, something to refresh themselves and celebrate their success at getting the drow assassin back to Morrowind. "How about some shein, Dae? Can I call you Dae?" The bosmer handed the drow one of the mugs.

"No." Daerazal lifted the mug to his lips to taste the local brew.

"Oh." Bodil's smile dropped to an uneasy acceptance at the tone of warning.

Jiub smiled in spite of the drow's unfriendly answer. "Could you excuse us, just a minute?" Turning to Bodil, he pulled him aside for a moment to speak privately. "Don't do that."

"Do what? I was just trying to be -"

"Don't make him mad," Jiub hissed as they walked a short distance away.

Daerazal finished his mug and set it on the stone table. Then, he left the two surface elves to take his backpack to the straw-covered sleeping area in the back "room". As he looked around, he saw the potential for this place as a nice little shelter from whatever else lay beyond it. Kimmuriel would be pleased.

))((

Forgetting it was the environment that Daerazal had lived in all of his life, Jiub and Bodil did everything they could to make the drow comfortable in the dark, rock cavern. They filled him in on as much information as they could concerning Chizrae's time in Morrowind, as well as the recent events concerning the attempt to get Talvalo out of the way.

When Jiub announced that he needed to go to Balmora to report to his Imperial contact there, Daerazal wanted to go with him - to see the new world he had come to. The dunmer promised to take him on a brief tour of the region at a later time, but the drow knew what he really meant. He'd been invited to kill his sister, and then he was invited to leave.

After they left, Daerazal pulled out the key to Chizrae's house and debated how to approach his third, and hopefully final, attempt at assassinating her. After their house was destroyed, he, his sister, and all of their companions had been forced to take shelter in the deep warrens of the Clawrift among the shifting locations of Bregan D'aerthe's many hideouts. But even under the discretionary protection of Jarlaxle and his psionic lieutenant, when he tried to convince Chizrae that her testimony was needed to prove her innocence, she remained bent on revenge. He tried to remember how much she hated him at that point. Hate always made the kill more fun.

))((

_Daerazal quietly rose from the bed and dressed. He picked up his sword and buckled it on, but then paused and considered what he was trying to achieve. Unbuckling the sword belt, he put it down again. If Chizrae needed a sign of trust, so be it. Though it was a foolish gesture on his behalf, he would hold no weapon against her to force her cooperation. Drawing a breath, his purpose set before him, the drow took one last look at the female human sleeping peacefully on the bed and slipped out the door, silent as a shadow._

_"Take me to see Chizrae," he whispered to one of the Bregan D'aerthe guards Kimmuriel set at their door to make sure his _guests_ didn't wander where they weren't welcome. "She's the one with the male half-elf."_

_The guard obliged his request and escorted him to Chizrae's door, but then waited beside him as he knocked on it._

_Chizrae's lips parted in astonishment when she first opened the door, but that expression quickly converted to a scowl. "What do you want?"_

_"To talk."_

_Chizrae quirked a white brow and backed up to allow him entrance with a mocking bow. "At your wish, _Battlecaptain_."_

_"Can the sarcasm. I'm just as disowned as you are now." Daerazal stepped in and looked for her unlikely half-elven companion. Yes, … he was still here, and he showed no sign of leaving to spare them a private chat._

_Chizrae cut the door guard a look of warning that he was not invited to the party, then shut the door to face her brother. "No longer Matron Sevlessa's little puppet. Whatever will he do?" she asked with a slight pout._

_Daerazal frowned at her mockery again as he turned to face her. "I wanted nothing to do with her orders, you know. I just did what I had to do."_

_"Oh, of course." She slowly sauntered toward him. "I'm sure it tore you up inside to stab me in the back after learning that I had gained command of the Blooding, instead of you. I'm sure it also upset you to tell me that Jereassein had his heart cut out for giving me such an amazingly enchanted weapon - which by the way, someone stole while I was unconscious." Her eyes narrowed and her voice took on a faux seductive tone. "Were you jealous that he favored me in a way he couldn't possibly bring himself to favor you?"_

_"A favoritism that killed him? No, I didn't envy that," he coolly answered her provocation. "However, I __was __jealous of how you always got what you wanted just because you were a priestess. You weren't even a _good_ priestess, but being female was enough to grant you freedoms I would __never__ know." He stepped closer to confront her with a lifetime of bitterness. "When I first started training you, for those few, secret hours in the practice hall, ... we were on equal ground, you and I. For those few, secret hours, … rank, station, and gender didn't matter. We both knew we'd be flayed if anyone found out, but you listened to me because I was willing to teach you what everyone else had forbidden. You looked up to me and valued what I had to say. Because for that short time, I was your __brother__-__ not your god-damned slave!"_

_"And then you stabbed me in the back!" Chizrae drew her dark dagger to show him its blade. "You were willing to betray me at the drop of a pebble for that bitch mother of ours, yet when she tried to sacrifice you, you were surprised?" The drowess almost laughed at the irony._

_Daerazal swallowed and backed away from the dagger, but made himself refrain from trying to disarm her. He began to mentally kick himself, however, for trying to talk to her unarmed and unarmored._

_She approached again, dagger held at his heart. "And now that the Council of Eight are attacking House Velve'Xukuth, you expect me to sympathize. You want me to help defend your ass after you tried to kill me? I owe you nothing!"_

_"This isn't just about me! Do you want them to hunt you down to finish what's been started? Because they will hunt you a hell of a lot longer and harder than I ever did!" Daerazal sighed at his growing frustration and anger, and his expression softened with his voice. "Chizrae, please, … you _must _trust me on this matter."_

_Chizrae's narrow eyes glittered hard and cold for a moment. "Trust is foolish. That is what I learned growing up here. Trust must be earned. That is what I have learned living on the surface. How can you even think about asking for my trust after what you did to me? What's to stop you from baiting me into that Council meeting and then handing me over to them? If I show up at the Council of Eight meeting, what's to stop them from killing me first and asking questions later?"_

_"Jaggedra has the Ryd'Alsdan piwafwi from the battle, and Jarlaxle has the other evidence. _They_ are willing to listen to us, and they are capable of making the other Matron Mothers listen. The judgment on our name can be reversed."_

_"And you would trust Jaggedra and Jarlaxle?" she asked as if the notion were laughable._

_"If we can stick together,we can punish Ryd'Alsdan. They are the ones that did this to us! They are the ones that planted false evidence, and aided the real thief and murderer. They're the ones that cursed our house, and prompted Matron Sevlessa to make me your bounty hunter. Don't you see? Everything happened because of them. With your testimony about what happened at Sorcere that night, we can accuse Ryd'Alsdan and bring House Velve'Xukuth justice - not for Matron Sevlessa - but for __us__! Otherwise, we are both going to be given to Lloth for no better reason than because we __survived!__" _

_"No, dear brother." Chizrae smiled and shook her head as she drew face-to-face with him. "_You_ will be given to Lloth. _I _will return to the surface and enjoy my freedom." _

_Daerazal gasped at the sudden and sharp pain in his gut. Then, his sister withdrew her blood-stained dagger and showed it to him with a grim expression. He dropped to his knees and pressed a hand to the wound, but hot, crimson fluid quickly seeped through his shirt and between his fingers._

_"I have wounded you, and now I will leave you to the so-called mercy of those you have attacked, … just as you did to me." Chizrae stared hard at her brother's pained expression. "You say you no longer serve the priestesses of Lloth, and yet your life hangs in their balance. Go to their meeting. Use all of your evidence, along with what I said to Jaggedra, to bury Ryd'Alsdan in the bottom layer of all nine hells. Defend our name and my innocence if you must, but do not ask me to defend House Velve'Xukuth. I cannot." She quietly sheathed her dagger and then bent to kiss the top of his snow-white head. __"_Now_ we are on equal ground, you and I. Darkness upon you, my brother," she softly whispered. Chizrae__ looked to Khyron, and he nodded in agreement that it was time to go. Together they left the room to make their escape from Menzoberranzan before the Council of Eight could send out a search patrol._

_On his knees, Daerazal felt his life's blood pumping through the dagger wound with every heartbeat. Slowly ... She had not intended to kill him, or she w__ould __have. Her last words were a familiar blessing, ... not a curse. Darkness was a protective comfort to a drow. "We are even now," he agreed, though she was no longer in the room. "You have learned the value of mercy, ... while I have learned the price of trust." He smirked to himself as he began to feel lightheaded. Standing, but doubled in pain, he made his way past the unconcerned guard, back to his own room to wake Mairiel and ask her to heal him._

))((

Daerazal examined the wrought iron coils in the bow of the house key. They weren't even anymore. With this key, the balance tipped in his favor.

Finally, with a sigh, he stood and put on his lightweight, black armor. Strapping on his weapons, he drew his _piwafwi_ around himself to camouflage his presence and blend into his surroundings. Opening the main door to the abandoned cavern, invisible to the skeletons and bone walker that aimlessly paced among the bodies of the dead, Daerazal squinted and strode through the torchlit tomb. He cracked the front door to peer outside, but bright sunlight seared his sensitive eyes. Immediately, he slammed the door shut and tried to blink away the blinding spots that temporarily impaired his vision. Then, gritting his teeth in frustration at how similar the sun of this world was compared to his own, he marched back through the tomb into the soothing darkness of the cavern and threw off the cloak.

With a disgusted huff, he lay down on the straw bed. Still wearing his armor, Daerazal closed his eyes to try to force himself to sleep. There was nothing else he could do until the sun went down, or until Jiub and Bodil arrived with news from Balmora.

))((

Kimmuriel was in his lair at the bar when the operative from Bregan D'aerthe entered with caution.

"Lieutenant Kimmuriel? I have that information on Chizrae Velve'Xukuth that you asked for."

"It's about time," he droned, but finished fixing his drink. "Leave it on the table."

"Um, ... well, it's ... accompanied."

The psionicist looked up at his informant's hesitant response and his brows furrowed slightly.

"Well, I found an Eilistraeen priestess who told me she thought the Eilistraeen daughter of House Agrach Dyrr was hiding at the Promenade."

Kimmuriel knew this already. "I didn't ask for information on Agrach Dyrr's daughter. I told you to use her to find information on Chizrae."

"Well, she referred me to the brother of the Eilistraeen priestess from Agrach Dyrr, and he said he knew where Chizrae went when she left Menzoberranzan after the house wars."

Kimmuriel's expression fell as he began to suspect what that meant.

"So, ... he's willing to fill us in, but … he insisted on bringing the information to you himself." The thief stepped out of the way to gesture through the open door.

"Gods no ...," Kimmuriel muttered under his breath.

A tall drow wizard with long, straight hair and robes that glowed with sinister runes stepped into the room with a handful of scrolls and grinned at the psionicist. "Hello, Kimmuriel. Long time no see, hm?"

Kimmuriel downed his entire drink, as if the buzz from the alcohol would help numb him to what he knew he was about to endure. "Leave us," he stiffly ordered his thief. "Cean'nafein, _why_ are you here?"

"I happen to know Chizrae Velve'Xukuth. I met her once here in Menzoberranzan briefly, remember? But then I ran into her again while I was on my way from the Forest of Mir to Calimport. I live in the Forest of Mir now, you know."

"I know," Kimmuriel flatly answered as his operative obediently left and closed the door.

"Chizrae was on a mission near the Calim Desert, just across the way."

"Why couldn't you just write everything down and hand it to my agent?"

The wizard's handsome grin drooped slightly. "I thought it might be fun to see you again and find out why you're inquiring about her. If I gave you permission to sleep with my sister, I think I deserve a little better welcome than this."

Kimmuriel's lips pressed together in a thin line. He walked to meet the mage, but he then snatched the scrolls from his hands. "Your _permission_ had nothing to do with it."

"Only because she's so infatuated with your skinny ass. Although I'll never understand why. It truly is very skinny."

The psionicist opened the scrolls to skim the written information. "Sort of like how it continues to baffle me that you can read magic, let alone do it."

Cean'nafein started to say something in return, but then stopped and reconsidered for a moment. "You're still sore about that time at Mantol-Derith when I put a lot of that spice on your lizard on a stick, aren't you? What was that stuff called? It was from the surface, a little red … Oh yes! I remember now - ca-ya-nay pepper."

"_Cayenne_ pepper, you _wael_." Kimmuriel cut the wizard a look of disgust, unrolled more of the scroll and kept reading. "If you're not familiar with a spice, you should know better than to _powder_ food with it."

"I'm a necromancer, Skinny-Butt, not a cook," the other drow proudly answered. "Be nice about my attempts to feed you, or I'll be waiting to resurrect you as my servant when you choke on it."

"If it weren't for your sister, you would be such a _grease spot_ on my ceiling by now." Kimmuriel tried to ignore the bothersome necromancer as he continued to read. "Guallidurth … a city that's even more fanatical in its devotion to Lloth than Menzoberranzan. What was Chizrae doing in Guallidurth?"

Cean'nafein snorted with superiority. "And you said _I _can't read?" He walked away to let the psionicist figure it out on his own, when a fascinating black onyx spider on a shelf caught his attention. It sat on a purple velvet cushion and seemed to stare right back at him with its ruby eyes. "Ooh, shiny."

Kimmuriel's eyes widened as he looked up from his reading. "Don't touch that!"

"Touch what?" Cean'nafein withdrew his hand.

"Whatever it was you were going to touch. Sit down over here and don't touch _anything_." Kimmuriel scowled and pointed to the sofa. "Those are psionic artifacts. Stay away from them with your cursed magic."

The necromancer gave him a daggered glare, looked back to the jeweled spider on the shelf, but then moved to the sofa. Dropping onto it, he propped his boots on the low table before him and leaned back with his hands behind his head. "While Chizrae was on the surface looking for some place to hide, she met an Eilistraeen priestess of venerable years named Vilharina. Chizrae refused to worship another goddess, but she agreed to help out somehow to earn her stay at the temple. Vilharina knew of Chizrae's background, so she asked if Chizrae would act as a spy in the Llothian city of Guallidurth. She was to pose as a Llothian priestess and gather information on rumors regarding a supposed effort to build arms for a surface raid.

"Chizrae found out there was a prophetic scroll that dated back to an ancient drow civil war that foretold the events in which a surface party would threaten the drow community if they didn't find this particular artifact. However, upon seeing the actual wording on the scroll, Vilharina realized that it could be interpreted two ways. Sure enough, one of the human temples on the surface also managed to see the scroll, during some quest or other, and they thought that it meant the drow were going to stage a raid on them if they didn't try to claim this same artifact. So, these two great forces each thought they were already being targeted by the other, and each of them interpreted the signs of the prophecy in their favor if they could just find this artifact. In reality, neither of them were a threat to each other _until_ both of them became interested in the prophecy.

"Vilharina wanted to stop the war before it could begin, so she hooked up with a human loremaster named Solomon to try to get the humans to back down from their quest, and she sent Chizrae under cover to try to get the drow to back down on theirs. Unfortunately, neither party was willing to back down. They were both convinced they had the divine right to that rod to protect themselves from each other. So, Vilharina and Solomon recruited some mercenaries, and Chizrae, to try to find the artifact themselves - before the human temple or the drow from Guallidurth could reach it. It was a three-way race."

"I assume she succeeded, or she wouldn't be alive," Kimmuriel commented, glancing over more of the details.

"True, true. I got dragged into all of this, too, of course. I agreed to help Solomon nullify the magic in the rod, so that it wouldn't pose a threat to anyone, human or drow."

Given the wizard's track record on curiosity with magical things, Kimmuriel highly doubted he had been forcefully dragged into anything that would reward him with a chance to play with a rare artifact. "Does this mean you have converted to Eilistraee?"

Cean'nafein chuckled at the notion. "My sister is Eilistraeen. _I _am nothing," he proudly stated. Then, he paused and realized that didn't sound right. "Wait, I take that back."

"Too late. I already agree with you." Kimmuriel rerolled the scroll. "I'm guessing the Guallidurth Llothians aren't very pleased with Chizrae right now. They might even be willing to kill her, wouldn't you say? If they knew she was a spy, of course."

"Oh, they knew, all right. She wouldn't have escaped alive, if it weren't for me. I was the hero that saved the day."

"Of course," Kimmuriel flatly intoned.

"By the way, I meant to say that I'm neutral, not nothing," he insisted on clarifying. "I'm devoted to my necromantic art, not religious issues."

"Yes, everyone's aware of how much you like to play with bones. So, you can go now. I have what I wanted to know."

"No offer to pay me? Not even a thank you?"

"I'm not paying you, Cean'nafein."

"But that was valuable information. I was there first-hand to witness it, and I came all the way down here so I could answer any questions you might have about it. You think you can skip paying me just because we're practically family?"

The psionicist gave him a dark look. "We are _not_ family." He tucked the scrolls under his arm. "This information needs to go to Daerazal now, so if you'll excuse me." Kimmuriel started to walk away.

Cean'nafein stood and followed. "Daerazal wants to know where Chizrae is? I thought he'd given up trying to kill her. I haven't seen either of them in ages. How are they?"

"Daerazal has been hired to kill her again."

"But their matron's dead now. Not that I can blame him for wanting to kill his sister, but ..."

"Someone else has hired him to kill her this time." Kimmuriel headed into a back room - his bedroom. The psionicist set the scrolls on the bed and proceeded to grab his sword and strap it around his hips. It was the only protection he figured he might need, ... just in case.

"What? He can't do that. He made a vow to the goddess Eilistraee for Mairiel, remember? He wanted to live with her on the surface."

"Yes, but the human's husband wasn't too fond of his wife leaving him for a drow, remember?" It disgusted Kimmuriel to even think about mixed-race relationships. "When Daerazal came back to his senses, he came back to us."

The necromancer frowned accusingly at the smaller psion. "Very surprising, considering Jarlaxle was going to hand him over to Dyrr after the Council meeting, so he could find out where Deun'nan and I were hiding. Don't think I've forgotten that."

"Jarlaxle is unavailable for you to vent at right now, Cean'nafein." Kimmuriel bitterly recalled the incidents with the crystal shard when Jarlaxle was obsessed with taking Bregan D'aerthe's business to the surface world. And there he chose to indefinitely remain. "Venting at me about it is a waste of breath."

"I'm not even sure whether it's because the Lichdrow thinks we're a disgrace or because he thinks we could come back as a threat somehow."

"It's because he thinks you're a disgrace," Kimmuriel helpfully suggested. "As for Daerazal, I just had to convince him that I was running things down here, now that Jarlaxle is ... otherwise occupied." He stopped and faced Cean'nafein with impatience. "Didn't I tell you to leave? Why are you still here?"

"If you're going to see Daerazal, I'd like to see him, too. He was a good friend, … even if he was short." Cean'nafein suddenly realized where he'd seen that onyx spider before. "Wasn't that his headband - the one that manipulated him into trying to kill Mairiel?"

"Daerazal is on another plane," Kimmuriel interrupted, giving the necromancer an unhappy frown. He wanted to prevent him from playing with the intelligent, but deadly psionic trinket at all costs. "The only way I can reach him is dream travel. You still want to come along?" he asked, as if presenting a dare.

Cean'nafein's dark skin would have paled a shade or two if it could have. "The last time we did that you switched me into my sister's body!"

"I didn't do the switching. You think I liked that? It was you and your idiot magic screwing with the _fraerzress_ radiations around us that warped everything!"

Cean'nafein's tall, slightly athletic frame was unusual compared to most drow wizards, and when he folded his arms at his chest he could look even more imposing. "What do you mean you didn't like that? I was dead sexy in her body. Even _I _liked my breasts."

"Uurrgggraaaah!" Kimmuriel growled at him in frustration. Then, he snatched up his scrolls again. "Lie down or go away!"

Cean'nafein snorted and lay down on the bed. "Since you insist, I'll go. But if you screw with me this time, I'll turn you into one of my skeleton zombies - I swear I will," he warned before closing his eyes and letting the psionicist seize control of his consciousness.

_"This is the problem with space and time. I have to find him first. I have to wait for him to sleep so that his consciousness enters the astral plane before I can connect to him that far away,"_ Kimmuriel telepathically told him as he lay down beside him and stretched his mind into the ethers of the multiverse.

Cean'nafein snickered. _"Reminds me of a song I heard once -"_

_"Shut up, so I can concentrate!"_

))((

Author's Note:

Jaggedra Thul is an official D&D NPC pulled from an old Dragon magazine. The "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy" plot is part of a generic game download from the Wizard's website. Khyron belongs to my friend, Michael, Cean'nafein and Deun'nan Dyrr are originally the creations of my friend, Alice. Mairiel is the creation of friend Anna. My friends' characters are used only with their permissions.


	17. Chapter 17: Not Alone

Chapter 17: Not Alone

When Jiub and Bodil returned from Balmora, they told Daerazal to wait on doing anything until their Imperial contact could meet with him. They asked for the cavern ring back so they could more return to him more quickly next time, but offered him books about Morrowind to ease the boredom of his confinement. Daerazal was glad to have the language charm that enabled him to read. The sections mentioning the Nerevarine Prophecy interested him the most, but he couldn't imagine anyone thinking Chizrae was the incarnate of a legendary dark elven general. The very idea made him laugh.

At night, the drow suited up in his armor and slipped past the tomb guardians again to scout the exterior of his immediate vicinity. It surprised him, however, to find there was very little difference between being inside the cavern and out. The land was nothing but molten rock formations scattered with sparse vegetation under a vast, dark, sky with two moons. The further he scouted, the more wildlife he encountered - alits, guars, cliff racers, and nix-hounds - but most didn't notice his presence. The one nix-hound that did attack him became dinner. Fresh, raw meat was much preferred to the dried and salted stuff stored in the cavern's barrels.

As he widened his perimeter of exploration he found the coast just to the south, an egg mine to the west, and an old stronghold filled with deformed monsters to the east. With the experiences gleaned from his night hike, he returned to the tomb before sunrise and crept back into the secured cavern hidden behind it. Grabbing the books, he tried to match his general location on the hand-drawn map inside the cover. He guessed he was in the southern Ashlands region of Molag Mar, but exactly where was still impossible to tell. Chizrae's home in Seyda Neen, according to Jiub and the book, was in the Ascadian Isles, quite a distance from here. The teleport key that would take him directly into her house now had another benefit saving travel time, but he hesitated to teleport in without knowing more about what he faced if, for some reason, he couldn't teleport out.

The next day, Daerazal was sitting at the table reading with his back to the fire in the stone oven, when he heard whispers at the entrance. Jiub had teleported into the cavern with a cloaked visitor and was escorting her toward him. The Imperial human pulled back her hood and drew such a breath of astonishment upon seeing him, that he nearly took offense at it.

"So much like his sister," she commented with a delighted smile as she walked a complete circle around him. "Yes, he'll do quite nicely, I think. Are you sure you can outmatch Chizrae?"

Daerazal frowned at being assessed like a slave on an auction block by some female human he'd never met. "There's only one way to find out, isn't there," he answered in heavily accented Tamrielic, touching the charm that translated for him as he closed his book.

"Daerazal, this is -"

"My name is unimportant," she interrupted Jiub, not wanting to be identified so easily. "What matters is that you are here to rid the Empire of a potentially very big problem before it escalates into something we can't handle. I understand that you ask no fee in return for this?"

"For me, it's personal. Assassination is such an impersonal thing, … but there must be personal gain behind it, or it wouldn't come to this. You say you are doing this for the Empire, but you must have a personal stake in it, too."

Shazi smiled. "I get appointment to Arch-mage of Vvardenfell to fill her empty seat. But more importantly, I get to keep living in Morrowind. My family has been here for generations. I was born and raised here. Morrowind is as much my home as any dark elf who claims it. If the Nerevarine pushes for rebellion against the Empire, I will lose the right to live in the only place I've known, simply because the dark elves of this region still view any non-dark elves as foreigners. It's not my fault that my ancestors invaded their land, but I'm here now, and I intend to stay. But more important than even that ..." She approached Daerazal to stand before him. "If Morrowind secedes, the rest of the Empire may fall apart in chaos. There have been rumors, … warning signs. The Empire needs to have one hundred percent support from all of its provinces or what divides us might doom us all." The Imperial woman lifted the sack that she carried and placed it on the table. "All we ask is that you prevent the Nerevarine from coming into any more power to influence events that would endanger all of us. There are a few conditions, though."

Daerazal's eyes narrowed. "Conditions?"

"Do not kill her in a place where her body can be found. It will make her a martyr, and that is the last thing we need. We need her to disappear from Morrowind, … not die for it."

"Then, I will bring her here to do it."

"And we will need to confirm that she is dead before we consider this little arrangement done."

"It never happened," Daerazal repeated a common drow saying on the handling of such matters.

"Exactly." Shazi smiled, glad to see that their assassin understood perfectly what they were trying to achieve. "The second condition concerns the investigation of the murder of two of her former employees. We're hoping her husband, Talvalo, will either be condemned for his crimes, or flee to avoid being condemned for them. Jiub says you were warned about his wolf curse. Officials are moving _very_ slowly, partly due to Chizrae's damnable cooperation and sudden show of honesty." The Imperial woman frowned at the drowess's innocent-when-convenient behavior. "So, don't leave any evidence of him either."

This was an unexpected contract addition. "You want me to remove him, too?"

"He is loyal to her - probably because she's the only one willing to tolerate such a dirty little secret. When he's not ravaging the countryside as a mindless bloodhound, he's a fairly intelligent battlemage. He came from notable connections, and he might figure out what's going on, if he isn't removed at the same time. And if he isn't removed neatly, those connections might start trying to find him. We don't want any trails leading to us, or the Empire." Shazi opened the sack to remove a small chest of precious stones and smiled as she showed them to him. "Since I've sprung Talvalo's removal on you at the last minute, I'm offering a little additional reward. I recommend you kill them separately instead of trying to take them both at once. Talvalo is rather large in his were form and incredibly strong. Wounds that he suffers in wereform regenerate, so his death must be delivered quickly, or he has the potential to endure a much longer fight than even the most skilled weapons trainer." A slight smile touched her lips with the warning. "I've been told that quick kills are a … drow specialty."

Daerazal stared at the chest of precious gems. He had fought alongside and against wererats before. The experience left him thinking it was an intrinsic contradiction to consider any were-creature intelligent. Still, he hated trying to fight magic, so prompting the battlemage to turn into the beast might work in his favor.

"The third condition is that you must agree to guard your comings and goings. Be as discreet as possible. Use the teleport methods we've given you to get into the house and come back here. If you need anything, let us know, but don't come to us. We will come to you." Shazi looked to Jiub and cued him to hand the cavern ring back to Daerazal, which he did. "The timing for doing these jobs is up to you, but the sooner the better. The time has come to end this farce of the Nerevarine Prophecy once and for all, ... before it causes more harm than good."

))((

That night, as Daerazal slept, he dreamed that he was hunting his sister again, racing through the wilds of the Underdark after her, ... racing through underground sewers behind her. He nearly had her when explosions set off all around them. Both siblings fell, and he raised his sword in determination to finally pierce her heart - to rid himself of the last overbearing Llothian priestess in his life.

But Chizrae didn't cry out in fear. _"Daerazal ... awaken,"_ she spoke in a soft voice.

The drow warrior panicked seeing Kimmuriel beneath his sword, instead of his sister. _"Daerazal, … awaken," _he repeated the command.

Daerazal abruptly woke and sat up in a cold sweat. A few feet away from his bedroll, a light blue fog of magic was glowing and shaping itself into an oval portal. He had been through one of Kimmuriel's dream travels before and it was a nightmarish experience, but this time he was just the anchor. As he wiped his brow in relief, the Bregan D'aerthe lieutenant stepped through the portal, but he surprised to see that a second drow accompanied him. "Cean'nafein?"

"Ahh! You didn't twist us into funky shapes this time." The tall necromancer patted his chest and was relieved to find nothing but his original body. "Hello, Daerazal. Rather nice little dungeon you've got here," he added, looking around the cavern.

Daerazal had not seen the necromancer in a long time and was admittedly amused at his unexpected appearance. But he was also fully aware of the psionicist's distaste for him and wondered why in the world he had brought him along.

"Have you done it yet?" Kimmuriel was weak from his effort to reach his operative over such a great distance.

"Not yet. They wanted me to meet with their Imperial operative first, and I've been delaying, ... trying to learn about this place while waiting to hear something from you."

Kimmuriel walked to where Daerazal sat and dumped the handful of scrolls in his lap. Then, exhausted, he sat down on the bedroll next to him and wiped a shaky hand across his cold, clammy brow. "Cean'nafein has some interesting things to share about your sister's time on the surface. She has enemies in Guallidurth, if you'd rather us pass word to them and let nature take its course. It could be worth more to us to drop a little hint in the First Matron's ear."

Daerazal looked at the scrolls with doubt, picked one up, and unrolled it. "Chizrae's probably worth more to them alive than dead." The scroll hadn't been written in glow-fan ink, so he had to reach for a nearby lantern.

"Exactly," his lieutenant agreed. "You may not want profit out of this, but if there's a profit to be made one shouldn't pass it up - especially when you can gain it from two candidates competing for the same prize."

After lighting the lantern, which made all three of them wince in discomfort, Daerazal immediately dampened the brightness by dropping a blue-plaid napkin over it. "Well, I've been given my instructions now, so I can go ahead with it." Unrolling the scroll again, he scanned Cean'nafein's penned account of the Guallidurth incident.

Cean'nafein touched the walls here and there around the cavern, giving it ambient purple lighting from small faerie fire spells. Then, he softened new contours from rock-shaping spells and drew stalagmites up from the ground. "There. That should make it look more like home," he decided, pleased with his artistry. "By the way, Kimm, I didn't tell you before, but those gaps between Chizrae leaving Menzoberranzan, returning to Menzoberranzan, and showing up near Calimport were actually spent on other worlds ... like this one. So, she's obviously gained access to a very powerful dimensional gate of some kind. She might even use it to escape again," he suggested as he formed sconces from the stone wall and lit them with blue faerie fire.

"Matron Sevlessa once said she thought Chizrae was on another plane," Daerazal agreed.

Kimmuriel sighed and lay back on the bed to stop his head from spinning. "What of the portal into Menzoberranzan?"

"It's in the other room."

"Cean'nafein and I will examine it before we return to figure out the best way to destroy it. Have you been able to get out and assess this plane yet?" Kimmuriel lifted his chin to look at his operative.

"The land was bled dry by a cataclysmic volcano and blight storms, according to what I've read and seen, and the Empire from across the mountains is already tapping the only valuable resources left in ebony and glass mines. I've seen no armies, so I don't think it offers much of a threat to Menzoberranzan. It definitely doesn't offer much as a trade option."

"Drow do not belong in the Land Above for trade or war. There's a reason humans and other incompetant races make better slaves than business partners." Kimmuriel let his head fall back to the straw beneath the bedroll. "This is a god-awful mat. How in the world do you sleep on it?"

Cean'nafein levitated up to the ceiling to shape some dangerously pointed stalactites and a stone chandelier with blue faerie fire before he touched down again. Hands behind his back, he paced and looked for other ways to make the plain little hole into a more comfortable warren, until he came to a stop at the pool of water below the mesa platform where Daerazal had set up camp. "Kimmuriel? Could you stir up the water down here just a bit? Not enough to boil it, but just enough to kick up a good steam would be nice."

The psionicist sat up to glare down at the necromancer standing by the pool. "No."

"But wouldn't this make a great hot bath?" Cean'nafein grinned.

"I am_ not _wasting what's left of my energy to make you a hot bath."

"Fine, be that way," the necromancer grumped as he found the Morrowind books. "I'll figure out another way to do it, and then I won't let your skinny ass into it."

Kimmuriel dropped his aching head back to the bedroll and pressed his fingers against his throbbing temples up under his hairline, but then continued his interrupted conversation. "What about the portal that brought you here? I assume it carries multiple people since all three of you used it to return?"

Daerazal set aside Cean'nafein's scrolls and left for the kitchen to get the teleporting ring from the pocket of his piwafwi. When he returned to the psionicist's side, he dropped it into his hand.

The psionicist pushed himself up into a slouched position to study it. "Cean'nafein, come up here and see what you can do to copy this ring."

Sifting his fingers through the precious gems in the small chest near the books, Cean'nafein straightened with indignity. "Excuse me? I am not one of your little bandits, Oblodra. You can't order me around. I am a powerful necromancer. Don't make me have to remind you of that."

Daerazal could see by Kimmuriel's expression that he was about to lose patience and do something nasty to his unwanted companion, ... if he could muster the energy. The warrior smirked quietly to himself. It was just like old times when their caravan camped in the wilds. "Cean, there's some old jewelry in the urns in the tomb on the other side of this cavern. I'm sure one of those would do just fine for copying a teleport spell. You can keep the rest of whatever you find. It's not like the dead are going to be using it."

The necromancer perked up with interest. "We're next to a tomb? That's different. You didn't tell me you were camping next to a bone garden." Cean'nafein conjured his serpent-headed staff and strode with eager confidence toward the cavern's entrance.

"It has guardians," Daerazal called out in mild warning, but then picked up the scrolls and sat down next to the psion to finish reading. "That ought to keep him busy for at least an hour."

Kimmuriel flashed him a look of gratitude and rolled over to get some sleep and recover his lost psychic energy.

))((

When Ceannafein returned from the tomb carrying an armful of treasures, he was followed by two animated skeletons.

Daerazal looked up from his reading and blinked without surprise at the macabre procession parading through his sleeping quarters, but then winced in complaint. "Aw, what is this? I don't want those things in here."

"One can never have too many servants. At least I didn't swipe that marvelous flesh golem lumbering around in there. The only thing that made me think twice about it was that I wouldn't have been able to name him Bob."

Daerazal sighed, remembering that Cean'nafein lost track of the names and numbers of his undead servants a long time ago, so he formed the habit of just calling all of them "Bob".

"It wouldn't be right to call a creature made from lots of different people 'Bob'. He'd have to be referred to in plural." Cean set his treasures down on the ledge near the warrior's light and picked through the jewelry from the raided tomb until he found a ring suitable for such a strong enchantment.

After having to put up with him in Skullport and the Promenade, Daerazal was used to Cean'nafein's love of slimy things by now. The warrior had achieved a level of patience with him that the psion probably never would. All the same, he was grateful that the grotesque flesh and bone walker had been left in the tomb.

Cean'nafein pocketed the chosen ring. "All that's left is to find some reagents. I have some with me, of course, but not the right kind for that type of spell. I didn't exactly plan on doing this when I left home, you know. Do they sell things like that in this world?"

Daerazal returned to his reading of the scrolls. "I ... don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I'm not a magic user, Cean." He pointed out the obvious. "And there's no place out in that wasteland that sells anything, believe me. The rothe tunnels beyond Donigarten see more traffic than this forsaken place."

"There's got to be people out there somewhere. You just haven't gone far enough." He picked up Daerazal's armor and dumped it on the scrolls. "Suit up. We're going for a walk, and I need you to be my shield," he told him with a grin.

Daerazal sighed and put down the scroll he was trying to read. As he suited up in his armor and strapped on his weapons, he watched Cean'nafein approach the sleeping lieutenant and lean over to his ear.

"Hey, Kimm," he whispered. "Want to go on a walk with us and look for humans? What's that? No? You hate humans? Thought so. We'll be back later." Cean'nafein stepped over Kimmuriel and grabbed a handful of the gems from the small chest before heading for the door of the tomb. His two skeletons followed behind him.

"You can accidentally lose him out there if you want to," Kimmuriel sleepily muttered to Daerazal.

Daerazal smirked and continued to strap on the remainder of his supple, black protective gear. "Deun'nan would never forgive you."

Kimmuriel rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes. "I won't tell her if you don't."

"Well, … can't promise to lose him, but I'll at least try to keep him out of trouble." Daerazal blew out the lantern allowing only the cool glow of faerie fire to light the cavern, so Kimmuriel could continue to rest and restore his mental strength.

When Daerazal was armed and ready, he left the cavern to join the necromancer at the front door of the tomb. "The skeletons stay here, Cean."

"Oh, fine." The necromancer sighed and gestured for them to stop following. "Bob, guard the entrance." Then, he snickered to his living companion. "Two commands in one breath. Am I a genius, or what?"

Readying his sword, the warrior took the necromancer out under the stars, as far west as he had previously dared to travel, but he stopped at an intersecting road within sight of two focal points. "If there's any civilization near here, I think it's either beyond that old stronghold, or beyond that egg mine. The stronghold is in ruins and filled with decrepit monsters, but the egg mine has workers. Those workers have to come from somewhere beyond it, so my bet is there's a village or town beyond it."

"They mine eggs?" The necromancer made a face. "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard."

Daerazal led the way toward the egg mine and pointed to the large insect-like creature that patrolled outside the mine door. "That's a kwama. I used the books in the cavern to identify it. They nest all along underground tunnels and lay huge eggs, so the dark elves native to this land go into the tunnels to harvest them."

Cean'nafein stared at the creature for a moment. "Is that white thing sticking out of its neck its head or some kind of larva?"

"Both."

"Okay, that's just weird. I vote to go see the decrepit monsters, instead."

The warrior gave the necromancer a side-glance of scorn. "Decrepit monsters don't usually have stores that sell reagents."

"No, but they make marvelous zombies." Cean'nafein sighed at the scornful look he was receiving from the other drow. In defeat, he drew a wizard's eye spell over himself to boost his normal range of vision. "There's a city to the west beyond the mountains. Follow this road or the shore." He blinked as his spell quickly faded.

Daerazal remembered that one of his three conditions for the contract was that he wasn't supposed to be wandering about, risking being seen. But he drew his sword and advanced ahead of the necromancer toward the city anyway. They encountered a pack of nix-hounds along the way, and Cean'nafein paused to take some samples of meat and chitin from one of Daerazal's kills while he let the warrior continue to fight off the remainder.

When they reached Suran, Cean'nafein pointed to the illustration woven into an alchemist's banner, and they went into the shop to see what items were for sale. Daerazal tried to pull his hood low over his eyes to protect them from the multiple lanterns that lit the establishment as he interpreted for Cean'nafein in inquiring about ingredients and their qualities, including soul gems. The necromancer was in just as much discomfort and made his purchases quickly using Shazi's precious gems for trade.

When they were done and ready to leave, the dark elven apothecary, Ibarnadad Assirnarari, bowed in gratitude for their business. "By the way, Sirrahs, ... I'm not sure which one of you to address, but ... thank you so much for clearing our skies. Red Mountain used to send terrible blight storms into Suran, since we so close to it, but we have blue skies most days now and can await spring rains without fearing what else their clouds may carry. Thank you, Nerevarine."

Daerazal supposed it was because of his darker skin color that he had been mistaken for his sister, but he didn't know what to say in return, so he merely nodded and followed Cean'nafein back into the soothing darkness of the city street.

"What was that little speech at the end about?" the necromancer asked. "He bowed to you. Did you see that?"

"He mistook us for Chizrae."

"Kimmuriel may have switched my mind into my sister's body once, but I have _never _looked like Chizrae." Cean'nafein paused in thought as they continued to walk through the town to see what else was there. "Not that Chizrae looks bad. I would have much preferred to look down at her breasts instead of Deun's, since _she_ probably wouldn't have slapped me for touching them."

"Chiz would have slapped you into last year. Trust me."

"At least Chizrae would have been bigger than Deun'nan - bigger has better bounce."

Daerazal's lips thinned and he smacked the back of the wizard's head - hard. "I don't want to hear your opinions about my sister's breasts, okay," he snapped.

Cean'nafein frowned and rubbed the back of his head. "You have definitely been spending too much time around Kimmuriel. Except he doesn't hit when he gets pissed. He just gets that sadistic smile on his face and then messes with your brain to make you think you have diarrhea."

Daerazal shot the wizard a slitted side-glance, but said nothing.

"What, he's never done that to you? It's just me? That skinny-assed little bastard ..." Cean'nafein snarled, but then just as easily smiled as they both reached the bottom of the steps leading to a lower level of the town. "Oh, look. A red light." The necromancer grinned and wriggled his brows at the fighter. "I wonder if that means the same thing here that it does in Calimport."

Daerazal followed Cean'nafein toward the building with the red light, but as he walked, he continued to think of the alchemist's mistake. "Chizrae's done something good for these people. Why can't they just let her be and see what happens. Just because some old prophecy says things are going to happen, doesn't mean she's the one that's responsible for it happening."

"Are you wimping out of your contract to kill her?"

"No. I'm _thinking_."

"About your Eilistraeen vows?"

Daerazal stopped and turned to face his fellow drow with an unhappy expression. "Don't bring my vows into this."

"Why not? Were they real, or were they just for show? If you made the vows for your human lover, rather than the goddess, I suppose neither of them can hold it against you if you break them. If they were made to the goddess, however ..."

"Mairiel wasn't my lover. She was my slave," Daerazal corrected him.

Cean'nafein's brows furrowed as he tried to remember. "Oh, that's right. She was in that caravan from Reiden's Outpost that you tricked the driver into selling to you as slaves. Deun'nan was among them, too. I still think you deserve to be turned inside out for that. You don't _buy_ a daughter of House Agrach Dyrr as a _slave_ - even if she is a scatterbrained Eilistraeen."

Daerazal snorted. "Don't even go there. I heard you tried to sell her to hobgoblin guards for lunch when you were kids."

"That's different. She's _my_ sister, and they were bugbears, ... I think." He pursed his lips in thought. "Anyway, they didn't offer me very much, and Mother frowned upon it."

"Well, I had no intention of keeping her as a slave. Besides, I freed her and everyone else in the end for helping me find the real thief and murderer. Slaves are too much of a pain in the ass to train and feed. And when you're nice to them, what do you end up with? Just another person wanting to stab you in the back, if given the chance." Daerazal removed his gauntlets and slipped them beneath a thigh plate on his greaves, so his sweaty hands could breathe while in town.

"Well, … then you shouldn't have freed the woman you loved." Cean'nafein walked around him to continued toward the building with the red light. "She wouldn't have run back to the surface and married someone else if you'd locked her up again."

Daerazal's bitterness melted into a sigh of disgust as he followed. "She's the one who gave me my freedom. She deserved her freedom in return."

"Then you should have married her first. I live with a half-drow in a Vaerhaunian community in Mir, so I know what I'm talking about," he insisted. "Once they've been indoctrinated with that love-thing, they insist on marriage. Then they can tell you what to wear and what to eat and want babies ... Ugh, it's just awful, but there's no other way if you want to keep her."

"I offered to try living on the surface with her, but her family wouldn't accept it. And I knew she was miserable with all their arguments over me, so ... I left."

"But she left her husband to find you again."

"Running into her in Skullport was nothing but a coincidence."

"Oh, but it loads of fun when he came looking for her and found out about you. Remember that?" Cean'nafein chuckled and nudged an elbow into his companion's shoulder, nearly knocking him over. "Which brings me back to my question - was the vow real, or was it just to convince her to stay with you? Hm? An Eilistraeen knight - or whatever the hell you would be in their eyes - would not kill his own sister without a good reason. That is Llothian behavior. Chizrae is no longer Llothian. Are you?" The necromancer stopped at the door of Desele's House of Earthly Delights, gave his friend a knowing glance, and then entered.

The dim lighting of the questionable establishment was much easier on their eyes than the alchemist's shop had been. Cean'nafein grinned from ear to ear as he noticed the scantily clad girls dancing on the stage to the beat of guarskin drums and exotic sounding lutes. "Oooh. Looks like Calimport," he whispered to Daerazal, pleased with his discovery.

Daerazal shook his head and headed to the bar.

"What will it be?" owner Helviane Desele asked without looking up from pouring drinks as the drow approached.

"I would like a map."

"This isn't the place for maps. If you want a map, go across the street to the outfitter." When she finished pouring the drinks, she looked up but was slightly startled at his appearance.

Daerazal acknowledged once again that he looked different from the typical dark elves she served, but he back-tracked to his companion before any further references to the Nerevarine could be spoken. "I'm going across the street. Do _not_ go into any back rooms with anyone. Stay right here," he stressed before leaving.

Across the street at the outfitter's, again his watery eyes tried to adjust to the many candles that lit the place. As soon as he purchased his map, he spread it on the counter and squinted to read it. "I need to find Seyda Neen."

"Outlander, huh? Should have known." Rinosa Gilvayn leaned on the counter with her customer and looked over the map before placing index fingers on the requested location and Suran. "It's a long walk from here, but we have silt strider services in town if you have the spare change."

Daerazal looked up from the map. "Silt strider?"

The lighter-skinned dark elf blinked in surprise at his ignorance and then laughed. "Wow. If you've never seen a silt strider before, you really are a stranger to this land."

Daerazal frowned slightly at the lack of information. "Is there a name for the large stronghold east of here, along the shore?"

"Telasero - it's here, near the Molag Mar region. I wouldn't go in there, if I were you, though. They say it's been taken over by a Sixth House cult. The Nerevarine defeated their leader and was supposed to be continuing to clear them out, but I wouldn't take any chances that it's totally empty."

"Nerevarine again …"

Rinosa was about to be awed. "Hey, … you're not … Are you …"

"No." The drow rolled his map and left. He was beginning to see his Imperial employer's wisdom in telling him to be discreet in his travels.

It wasn't difficult to find his companion again once he was back at the bar. The women on the stage were doing a sensual dance, and the drow necromancer was right between them enjoying it. Daerazal sighed and marched toward him. "Cean!"

"_S'jaad'ur uns'aa, jallilen_," the taller drow smoothly excused himself from the adoring women with a grin. "I think I like being something they've never seen before," he told Daerazal as he returned to him. "These humans don't scream and run from us like the ones at home."

"That's because they haven't seen your laboratory. How long will it take you to make that teleporting ring?"

"I can have it done tomorrow."

"Then tomorrow night, I can go to Seyda Neen."

The necromancer rubbed his hands together. "Excellent! Although, I do have to say on Chizrae's behalf that I wish you'd rethink this. I mean, sure she's yelled at you, hit you, kicked you, and stabbed you, but ... all sisters do that, don't they? That's just their way of paying attention to you. But Deun's changed since leaving Menzoberranzan, and ... Chizrae has, too."

"Did Chizrae say anything about me while you were working with her near Calimport?" Daerazal asked out of curiosity.

"Well, not in so many words."

"What'd she say?"

"Not a word. That's what I just said. But you do what you have to do, right? It's a contract for Bregan D'aerthe. Let's have a drink before heading back."

The necromancer's words were like a slap in the warrior's face. _I did what I had to do. _Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he followed the necromancer to the bar and ordered two drinks. Then, they began their trek back to the cavern, hoping to get there before sunrise.

When they returned, Kimmuriel was still sleeping hard from raw exhaustion after the dream travel. At the stone table, Cean'nafein immediately removed his protective robes and rolled up his shirt sleeves to work on enchanting the ring. Daerazal pulled out the scrolls again and settled in the straw to re-read them.

))((

Several hours later, the necromancer approached the warrior with the finished product. "Here you go. I even tested it, and it brought me from the kitchen to the front entrance. It should work from other places."

"Is it strong enough to work from Menzoberranzan?"

"Should be. I duplicated the enchantment that was on the other ring, rather than trying to come up with a fresh enchantment. And now, I'm ready for another drink." Cean'nafein eagerly rubbed his hands together as he headed back into the kitchen to clean up his magical clutter. But first he reached into a barrel for a jug of sujamma. Having never had the stuff before, he pulled the cork and took a sip, swishing it around in his mouth first. "Ueh, disgusting." The drow put it back.

"What else ..." He opened another barrel and looked inside. Instead of bottled drinks, he found a shimmering book wrapped in a sheer fabric. "Ooh, shiny." Curious, he picked it up and unwrapped it. As soon as he touched the cover, however, he vanished, and the book fell to the floor.

Cean'nafein found himself standing alone in the wilds of the Underdark just beyond Menzoberranzan - and he had given Daerazal his only way back. "Curse all nine layers of hell under Lloth's spidery ass! I hate it when that happens!" Growling at his own carelessness with the magical item, the necromancer summoned his staff and marched back toward the city proper. Now he would have to wait for Kimmuriel's return to find out what Daerazal decided.

))((

When Daerazal woke the next morning, he realized too late that he had dozed off during his reading. Lifting his head from his bedroll, he spotted steam coming off of the pool beyond the ledge where Kimmuriel had just finished dressing.

"Cean'nafein had a good idea for once. Don't tell him I said that, though, or every time he reminds me about it, I will remind you that he's reminding me." The psionicist left the sleeping quarters for the kitchen.

Daerazal groaned at the ache in his back from sleeping in the uncomfortable bedroll and straw, but pushed himself up to follow. Pausing at the steaming pool, he rinsed his face. Then he padded into the kitchen behind Kimmuriel to slice some servings off of the slab of raw nix-hound on the table. He looked around for the necromancer and scratched the back of his wispy white head. "Did Cean'nafein leave?"

Kimmuriel gave a soft chuckle as he tasted the nix-hound meat and pointed to the book lying open on the floor. "You could say that."

Daerazal crouched over it for a minute to study the situation, then carefully folded the fabric over the book to close it. The normally serious warrior couldn't help but chuckle, too, when he realized what must have happened. Placing the book on the table, he remembered to give his lieutenant one of the two cavern-teleport rings. "At least he finished copying the enchantment. Want to go with me tonight?"

The psion studied the ring. "Based on your report, I have no desire to see any more of this world, Daerazal. I'll be heading back to Menzoberranzan within the hour. I've decided that what I want from this excursion is knowledge about how the portals were created. Opening up passageways to places where the creator has never been before is not ordinary mysticism. Find out how the book was made before you kill Chizrae, then do whatever it takes to bring it back with you when you return."

"I'll scout her house, and then I have to return to Menzoberranzan, too, … to get something I left behind. But after that, I'll get the information on the book and finish things here."

"Take care to hold it within its protective cover, or you'll leave it behind like our unfortunate necromancer did."

))((

The following night, Daerazal returned to Suran, hunted down the silt strider, and took a midnight ride to Seyda Neen. When he arrived, he headed straight to Arrille's Tradehouse, but it was almost daylight. "Excuse me, could you tell me where Chizrae Velve'Xukuth lives?" he asked of the gold elf behind the counter.

Arrille was stunned to see his similarities to the woman he inquiring about. "Take the bridge to the cross-roads and turn east like you're going to Ebonheart. When you pass an egg mine, slow down and turn on the peninsula to your right. You must be related to her?"

"Yes, but … I'm kind of wanting my visit to be a surprise." He put a finger to his lips.

"My lips are sealed," Arrille assured him and grinned, happy to be in on the secret.

Daerazal rented the one empty room that the Tradehouse had and then, with the methodology of a vampire, drew the drapes and locked the door to sleep away the daylight hours.

That night, Daerazal cloaked himself in his piwafwi and slipped out of the Tradehouse without being noticed. It was pouring rain. Water from the sky was not something he was used to, but the fluctuating temperatures and weather served as a reminder why he preferred to live underground. He followed the gold elf's directions until he could see a longboat on the shore. From there, he levitated into the trees and looked across the water to the island fortress. The water posed an uncomfortable obstacle, but the walls did not. Dropping silently back to the ground, he crept to the longboat, climbed in and pushed off in the direction of the island. When he was almost there, he cast a darkness spell over himself and the boat, but continued rowing dead-ahead until he came to the wall. Levitating above the darkness spell on the boat, he levitated up to the wall's ledge and crouched to study the estate grounds. No guards, no prowling beasts, and no glowing wards - living away from Menzoberranzan, Chizrae had apparently let her guard down. This would almost be too easy. Pulling the key from his pocket, he waited until all the interior lights diminished, then twisted the part of the bow that would activate the teleport spell.

Instantly, Daerazal was transported to the manor home's anteroom. Making sure his piwafwi was still cloaking him, he readied a hand on his sword and crept into the main hall of the house. The room had wood-paneled walls, more typical of human housing than anything elven. Embers were dying in the hearth and a painting of flowers graced the mantle. A silver tea set with fine china adorned a corner hutch while jewel-encrusted bowls and goblets of another age decorated the display shelves near the back door. He could hear the wind from the storm brewing outside, but he could also hear melodic chimes from somewhere near a window. Creeping toward the kitchen he saw cookbooks and a half-eaten pie on the counter. This place was so unlike anything he could imagine his sister living in that he wondered if he had the wrong house.

Crossing the living room toward the fireplace, he saw a large piano and a lute. Chizrae could play stringed instruments like the lute, but the piano was way out of her league from what he remembered. He went to the desk in the corner and scanned the paperwork looking for clues about the owner, but all he found was an almanac. Pausing a moment, he penned a note on some stationery found in the drawer, but then changed his mind and took it with him.

Going downstairs to the lower level, he peered into the alchemy lab and display room. He still found nothing that reminded him of his sister, but the library contained two whole shelves of the teleporting books that Kimmurial wanted.

Finally, Daerazal gave up on the lower levels and returned to the living room, where he walked back to the desk and, with hesitation, left the note on the almanac. Then, he turned his attention to the stairs leading to a second above-ground level. The bedrooms were probably up there, but both of them would be up there together. He had already decided he didn't want to attempt to fight them together, but as he crossed the floor to leave through the back door, a low growl from the stairs gave him pause. A glowing canine form met his gaze from the top. Was this the werewolf? It looked like an ordinary wolf to him.

Daerazal swept through the back door to the deck. When he turned around, however, he found what he had been seeking. Mushrooms and pond flowers glowed in soft hues of purple and blue while newly blooming night flowers filled the air with a delicate perfume. He had no doubt now. This kind of garden could only be designed by a drow from the Underdark. This was, indeed, Chizrae's home.

))((

"Loki?" Chizrae sat up in bed after hearing the wolf growl.

"Don't tell me he needs to go out again," Talvalo groaned - face still buried in his pillow.

Chizrae frowned at the wolf's unusual behavior and got out of bed. She opened the trunk at the foot and removed a long blade made of enchanted green glass that shimmered with a red glow - a fire enchantment. The drowess crept down the stairs to find the wolf pawing and snarling at the back door.

A few minutes later, Talvalo came down the stairs to see what the disturbance was as well. "What's going -"

"Sssh! Someone's out there." Chizrae reached down to Loki and removed his calming charm so he would be free to attack. Talvalo gave a small nod of understanding and peeled out of his night clothes to shape-shift into his were-form. When he was ready, she threw open the door against the side of the house. Loki bounded out growling and snarling, but the wolf sniffed every inch of the deck and couldn't find the culprit, or even follow his trail.

_"Did you see someone?" _the werewolf signed.

_"I heard someone on the deck."_ She signed back, scanning the garden surrounding the pond.

))((

Daerazal watched from the top of the thatched roof where he had levitated. After all this time, Chizrae still looked the same. So it was for everyone among their slow-aging elven race. The white werewolf at her side was much bigger than he'd imagined. And nobody had warned him at all about the little black one.

Having seen what he wanted to see, Daerazal pulled the ring from his pocket and slipped it onto his finger just as Chizrae looked up among the trees.

))((

The drowess's breath caught in her throat as the glowing heat of the figure on her rooftop faded. "Someone was watching us."

The werewolf turned its attention to the rooftop, but saw nothing. Talvalo slipped an arm around her shoulders and coaxed her toward the door to get out of the rain. He didn't tell her it was her imagination. Not even he believed that.

))((

Chizrae slipped into a plain dress before heading downstairs to eat breakfast. Talvalo was already out taking care of the horses, even though it was raining again. Making herself a cup of hot tea, she sliced up an orange for her meal and headed into the living room. Putting her mind to her chores would hopefully get it off of last night's disturbance. There was planting to be done, shopping to be done, and the Mage Guild affairs. But as she reached for her almanac to contemplate which seeds should be planted first, she spotted a note on top of the scroll. Picking up the piece of stationery from her own desk drawer, she unfolded it and stood perfectly still for a moment, as if a paralysis spell had taken hold of her. The note had been written in Drow.

_"Chizrae, come to the tomb on the road east of Suran, north of the shore, west of Telasero in Molag Mar. Come alone."_

Her mind flashed back to the glowing figure she'd briefly spotted on the roof. Drow from somewhere had penetrated her fortress - been in her house! Her matron was dead. The Council of Eight, whatever their judgment on her alleged crimes, had surely adjourned long ago. Who else could hate her so much they would still be trying to trace her? "Guallidurth …"

Few things frightened the stalwart woman, but her hands trembled as she put the note back where she found it. Chizrae ran for the readiness room and grabbed her best armor. Running back upstairs, she grabbed every magical piece of jewelry she thought might come in handy. Then, she ran down to the display room to grab her most heavily enchanted weapons. Heading across the hall to the alchemy lab, she filled a bag with restorative potions - anything she could get her hands on to help her evade the one enemy she doubted herself against - another drow.

When she finally had everything together in her travel bag, she headed to her desk and penned a note on the back of the one left for her. She left it in plain view for Talvalo to find, then she hurried to the library and grabbed the binding of the Realmsfade book to Suran. In a flash of magic, she was gone.

))((

"What is taking you so long?" Shazi demanded. She and Jiub had returned to the dark cavern hidden at the back of the tomb, but their assassin still had not delivered Chizrae's body.

"You said the timing for this contract was up to me," Daerazal answered her with a dark expression. This woman was beginning to sound as demanding as his matron. "Do you know of a way to prevent werewolf bites from being contagious? No? Then shut up and let me handle this my way."

Shazi drew back in offense. "If you're not willing to do it, I will send Jiub to find someone who will."

Jiub's eyes widened momentarily at the thought of having to return to that dreadful place, but then he remembered someone that might push Daerazal into acting a little more timely. "Kimmuriel, perhaps?"

Daerazal gave them a cold smirk for playing that card. "Kimmuriel has demanded a fee."

"Your fee was already settled," Shazi unhappily reminded him. "You wanted nothing, but I paid you extra."

"Yes, and I appreciate your generosity, but I work for him. And his fee for my service is instructions on how the teleporting book was made."

Shazi stiffly approached the male drow to stare down her nose at him. "There is _no way_ I am teaching a _dark elf _how to make that kind of book. The fact that it is linked to one place - and only one place - is the _only _thing that makes it safe to use. The ancient dwemer scroll the enchantment comes from was found in one of their observatories. It's a daedric scroll that is said to have once been linked to Magnus."

Daerazal shook his head. "You're using terms that aren't translating. Are the dwemer elves or dwarves?"

"You're not getting anything from that book except a free trip home." Shazi frowned at him in reprimand. "Now, time is wasting! Find Chizrae and kill her, or we will find someone else who can!" The Imperial mage raised her hands and cast a recall spell to take her back home.

Daerazal's eyes shifted to the dunmer. "I don't suppose you know anything about the scroll used to make the book?"

"Only that she still has it." Jiub paused in consideration. "Want me to get it for you?"

Daerazal dug a ruby out of his pocket and flicked it toward him.

Jiub caught it and pocketed his prize.

))((

When Chizrae spotted the tomb that fit the description on the note, she checked her armor once more. She hated wearing armor, especially heavy daedric armor, but she could not afford to make mistakes this time. Gathering her courage, the drowess entered.

Cean'nafein's skeletal guardians met her with drawn swords. The drow made short work of them, thanks to the Nerevarine's warhammer, Sunder, but after crushing their skulls and scattering their bones, she continued to look around in wide-eyed fear. She went further in and down a level, but a bonewalker that had regenerated from the remains Cean'nafein left lying around came barreling down on her with force. Chizrae was hit by the grotesque monster before she could throw up her shield. Its touch of death drained some of her strength, but she stuck with the battle until Spider Bite sliced through it. Then, she pressed further back into the tomb and down again.

Finally, she came to the entrance of the hidden cavern. She paced a moment, shaking out her nerves, but then clenched her teeth and threw open the door. The sight that met her eyes made her heart sink. Ambient purple faerie fire lit the walls where sparse mushrooms and moss grew. Tall stone sconces with blue faerie fire marked a sloping path up to a stone table and stove. There were bottles lying around, raw meat was set on the table, and a robe glowing with drow glyphs was draped over one of the stools.

The drowess swallowed hard and gripped Spider Bite as she turned a complete circle to check the shadows of the ceiling. When no levitating assassins swooped down to ambush her, she crept into the back room and peered around the edge of the doorway. More blue faerie fire lit another drow-designed looking room, complete with a steaming hot spring. As her heart pounded in her chest, she lifted her eyes to the ceiling once more. "I know you're here!" she finally shouted in her native Drow tongue. "Come out and fight!" But after a few minutes, she still met only silence.

Her nerves couldn't take it any more. The drowess ran to the scattered belongings in the room and dug through them, frantic for some kind of clue about what was going on. She dug under the straw, turned out clothing, and dumped supplies, until at last she found Cean'nafein's scrolls. With no name except her own attached to the writing on them, the drowess was horrified to read that someone had penned every last detail of her spying operation in Guallidurth. Panicked, she stood and looked around for any other evidence, when her eyes fell on the books. Moving closer, she read the titles - books meant to give a basic background on the history of Morrowind, ... and the Nerevarine. Why would drow bounty hunters have Imperial language books? Caius's words came back to haunt her.

_"Morrowind isn't a __good__ home for you anymore, Chizrae. ... Things ... aren't ... well. ... Whether it's true or not, the eyes of the Empire are not the only ones watching you anymore. … I've said all I can say without being branded for treason. Take a friend's advice and flee Tamriel, ... while you still can."_

"The Empire has brought Guallidurth drow to Morrowind to kill me," she softly told herself, as if she needed to hear herself say it before she could believe it.

She ran to the kitchen to search every chest and every barrel. There, she found the teleporting book, neatly wrapped in its magic nullifying cloth - the mystery book that Talvalo was not supposed to see. With dread, the drow sank to her knees and stared at it. They must have used it to go home to Guallidurth, but if it was like her own books, they probably had another magic item to bring them back here. She would not let them use the book to freely come and go again. Wrapping the book securely in its binding and hugging it to her chest, she took one last frightened look around, pulled out her key, and teleported home.


	18. Chapter 18: Brothers in Arms

Chapter 18: Brothers-in-Arms

By the time Chizrae got home, her mind was flooded with panic. She ran upstairs, dumped the teleportation book on the bed, and started pulling out drawers and turning out clothing. Sorting through her favorite things, the drowess pulled out her travel bag and began packing. "Where can I go? I have nowhere else to go!"

Then, she paused. There was still one place. She wrung her hands nervously. Would Azura aid her leaving this world as she had aided her in coming here? The drow looked down at her armor and weapons. Though she dreaded going back to that place, she was stronger now. She had to try. The drowess dumped the clothing out of her bag, inserted the book once more, and ran down to the kitchen to pack food and water supplies instead.

"Talvalo ..." He was probably still with the horses or had already started turning the soil in the garden. She hurried to the door to tell him what was going on, then remembered her note, which was still on the desk, apparently unread. There was really no need for him to go with her. She could travel faster alone. Letting her note remain, she ran to the library and reached for the Molag Mar book.

After the magic teleported her away, she stood outside the bridge to the Molag Mar canton. She didn't go into Molag Mar, though. She turned and ran to the silt strider and then ran down behind the canton toward the coast. She had a short, but difficult journey ahead of her, but she was already well-stocked on magic and weapons, so she determined that nothing would slow her down.

))((

When Daerazal returned to his cavern, he was shocked to see his belongings in a ransacked mess. He had been carrying a long, wrapped item that he handled with care, but upon seeing that he had been raided, he dropped his wrapped treasure and ran to the kitchen area to see if the Menzoberranzan book was still there. It was not.

_"Vith!"_ he cursed and kicked a barrel, toppling it onto the floor. After a brief, angry pace, he jogged back to his sleeping quarters and studied the disarray once more. Nothing else appeared to be missing, but one thing stood out to him: Cean's Guallidurth scrolls were open. Someone had been reading them, and considering they were written in Drow, he began to suspect what had taken place here. _"Nind plynnus ol! Valsharen elg'caress lu' olath darthirii fa'la zatoast!_" he angrily cursed again.

Daerazal grabbed his wrapped treasure and unrolled the long, slender item from its protective cover. It was a scabbard engraved with runes that shimmered with a dark red glow. Grasping the hilt above the spider-shaped crosspiece in one hand and the scabbard in the other, he tugged the blade and pulled it completely free to see the destructive magic shimmering along the black adamantine blade. He had not used Jereassien's Spider Bite in a long time, but now seemed as good a time as any to freshen it with the blood. Sliding the enchanted blade back into the scabbard, he strapped it around his hips beside his other longsword. Then, he pulled the teleport key from his pocket and stared at it. He couldn't afford to wait on the instruction scroll. The time to act was now.

))((

Talvalo came in at sunset and wiped a dirt-covered hand across his brow. "Chizrae, I hope you enjoyed shopping today, but working in the garden all by myself was _much_ more fun," he sardonically called into the rest of the house. The altmer went to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water, and then he made his way up the stairs to wash before dinner.

"I've got an idea. How about we hire everyone back for the growing season, and then we can fire them again next winter, hm? This place is absolutely too big for just the two of us." He untied the belt of his peasant shirt and was going to say something else to chide her for leaving him to do all the chores alone; but as he reached the top of the stairs, he saw that the bedroom was in chaos. Having been married to the drow for nearly a year now, he was used to her erratic behavior, but this completely baffled him.

"Chizrae?" he called to the hallway.

There was no response.

He looked into the bathroom and the guest room. "If you're leaving because I did something to make you angry, let's just skip the part where you fuss at me and go straight to the apology and sex." Certainly that dry comment would be met with some kind of tart response.

Frowning to himself at the disturbing silence, Talvalo headed back down the stairs and checked the rooms of the lower level. The alchemy room's cabinet doors were standing open with many potions missing. The display room was still tidy, but all of her best weapons were gone, including her Nerevarine artifacts. "Chizrae!" he shouted getting worried.

The house felt as if it had fallen under a threatened hush.

Talvalo ran back up to the ground-level floor and headed to her desk looking for some kind of Mage Guild notification or something. Instead, he found her note.

_"Talvalo, I have to go, but I will be back. Arm yourself well and go to Vos as soon as you can. I will look for you there and tell you more when I know what's going on._

_"I love you. Chizrae."_

Chizrae never said those three words - _never_. Now he really was worried. Noticing some other writing on the back of the paper, he turned it over. He couldn't read the foreign script, but he recognized handwritten Drow when he saw it because Chizrae used it all the time to make notes to herself, ... only this wasn't her handwriting. A chill passed over him as he realized what that meant. Talvalo ran out of the house into a light rain. Scanning the empty estate grounds and continuing to call her name, he ran all the way to the docks, but there was still no sign of her. Hopping in the longboat, he rowed back to the mainland and ran down the road toward Seyda Neen.

By the time he reached the silt strider and climbed the ramp to speak to the animal's driver, he was breathless. "Darvame, have you seen Chizrae? Did she ask you to take her anywhere?"

"N-no." The dunmer woman backed away from him with caution.

Talvalo suspected it was due to rumors about him being a werewolf that had slipped out since the investigation. And seeing him in this half-crazed state probably wasn't helping. "Did she pass this way at all?"

"No. But ... well, someone like her did."

Talvalo tilted his chin, wondering if he heard right. "_Like_ her?"

"He was a dark elf, but his skin more like hers than mine - anvil black, … ink black. Dark as the shadows of night itself, he was." She passed an uneasy hand over her own blue-gray arm.

He pressed closer to her. "_He?_ Did he say who he was?"

"No. He arrived the night before last and asked for an inn. I directed him to the Tradehouse."

Talvalo immediately recalled Chizrae and Loki sensing someone watching them last night. He ran back down the silt strider ramp into town, straight to Arrille's Tradehouse, and pushed his way through the usual spring-time crowd. Reaching across the counter, he grabbed the sleeve of the other gold elf behind it. "Arrille! Have you seen Chizrae?"

"Why, no. Is something wrong?"

"Have you seen anyone _like_ her?"

"I like her!" Fargoth piped up beside him. "I like her even if she lives with wolves. That's kind of sexy, actually, don't you think? And that armor she wears? Whooo! Makes you wonder how it protects her from anything. I mean, the logistics of a chain mail bikini blocking any kind of hit are staggering. I had a feeling she and I would be -!" The bosmer's next words were choked off by Talvalo's grip on his throat.

"Say one more thing like that about _my _wife, and I will snap you like the little twig that you are." The large altmer continued clutching the annoying little bosmer in a choke hold for the simple fact that it felt good to do so, as he turned back to Arrille. "Have you seen anyone come in here that _looks_ like her?"

"You mean a dark elf with unusually dark skin?" Arrille grinned, but then he looked puzzled. "He came in two nights ago - said he was paying a surprise visit, not to tell anyone. I figured they were relatives. Didn't he come see her?"

Talvalo frowned, and his hold on Fargoth tightened so that the wood elf was gasping and beginning to take on a dunmer shade of blue. "I don't know. Do you have records with his name?"

"No, actually. With only one room, I don't use a register. I'd offer to let you leave a message for him, but he checked out late last night, and I haven't seen him since."

Disappointed and helpless to do anything more except wait for Chizrae's return, Talvalo sighed with discouragement. "If you see either of them, please send them to Mysthaven immediately."

"I certainly will," Arrille agreed.

Talvalo released Fargoth with a shove and exited the Tradehouse. The cold rain was coming down heavier now, but he stood still in it for a moment to think. Another drow had come to Morrowind, and Chizrae had mysteriously disappeared. Maybe she wasn't in danger. Maybe this was something less sinister. He had believed she was finally happy with him in their twisted little arrangement, but maybe Jiub had been right and she was just using him. Correction - he had always known she was using him, but thought that she had begun to feel some sort of attachment. Why else would she have sacrificed the rest of her pawns to protect him? Perhaps the isolation of the island or the moon rages had become too much of a strain now that no one else was around. Perhaps she needed someone more like herself.

Talvalo shook his head to clear his doubts and reminded himself of the note she'd left behind. She'd told him to arm himself, … and she'd given him three rare and difficult words. Making up his mind to trust that she was safe, and that she would return, the gold elf jogged back toward Mysthaven.

))((

Daerazal teleported into the manor's anteroom and drew his adamantine sword. "_Chizrae Velve'Xukuth!_" he shouted, announcing his arrival. When no one answered, he cautiously entered the living room. "_Ol's uns'aa, Daerazal!_ _Vel'klar ph' dos?_"

Just then, the front door opened and a sullen, rain-soaked gold elf walked into the living room to warm and dry himself by the fire. He stopped short, however, when he realized there was a stranger in his house.

Daerazal's lips parted in astonishment. A _gold elf?_ Chizrae married a _gold elf_?

Talvalo's eyes narrowed as he approached the armed intruder. "What have you done with Chizrae?"

The drow assumed a defensive stance. "Are you Talvalo? I need to know where I can find her."

The drenched gold elf stopped just beyond the reach of the sword. "You don't know where she is?"

Daerazal was wary. "You don't either?"

"Who are you?" Talvalo demanded.

"Her brother."

Talvalo paused in surprise for a moment, but then angered all over again. "You tried to kill her once." He shook his head and spoke in a low, threatening tone. "You won't get a second chance."

Before Daerazal could explain anything, the gold elf shape-shifted into his were-form, increasing in stature to tower over him. "_Vith!_" the drow cursed as he backed away but forced himself to stay calm. "It's important that I see her! You have to tell me where she is!"

The large, white werewolf snatched and kicked away the remnants of his torn clothing. _"I don't have to tell you anything!" _Talvalo signed. Then, he bared his mouthful of sharp teeth with a roar, slashed the emphatic signal that he was done talking, and leaped onto the small elf.

The warrior was astonished to see the beast use drow hand-sign, but raised his shield in time to block some of the force behind the attack. Talvalo bit through the reinforced metal, leaving holes in it. Then, he grasped the lighter weight elf and rammed him into the wall. Daerazal grimaced at the impact, but twisted and slipped free. Staggering backwards, he managed to stay on his feet, until the werewolf grasped him by the hair and threw him into the wall again. The drow felt as if his spine had been crushed into the beam behind him, but when he dropped to the floor this time, he was more motivated to dodge a third, similar attack.

Talvalo leaped at him again, but Daerazal turned aside and just missed being snatched. As the werewolf turned and rushed back at him, the nimble drow leaped and somersaulted over his head. Talvalo skidded to a halt, immediately reversed direction, and stretched a long arm to catch him as he landed. Sparks jumped from the were-beast's long claws as they raked across Daerazal's cuirass and left intimidating trenches in the magical alloy, but he could not tear through it. "_Vrine'winith!_ Listen to me! Chizrae is in danger!" he angrily shouted as he scrambled to stay sure-footed and beyond reach.

The werewolf matched the drow's shift and speed with ease and attacked yet again. Keeping his shield between them, Daerazal dodged, spun, and drew back beyond range. Then, irritated, he slashed toward the beast, warning him to back off. The recoil from the hit reverberated solidly through his upper arm. Talvalo reacted with fury, puncturing the shield with his claws and jerking it away from him. The drow turned, vaulted onto a table, and levitated to the high ceiling. Hovering at a safe distance, Daerazal fought to catch his breath and resisted the urge to switch weapons and drive Spider Bite straight down into the creature's skull. Instead, … he waited.

Below him, Talvalo lifted his powerful arm to see a long, bloody gash marring his white fur. He seemed to recognize that paralysis poison had been on the drow's wicked blade just as it brought him to his knees, and then dropped him to the floor.

"Are you ready to listen to me now?" Daerazal sneered with clenched teeth, once he had the werewolf's undivided attention. "A dark elf thief came to Menzoberranzan and hired me to kill my sister for the sake of _your_ Empire. I took the job to prevent someone else being hired in my place, but I've decided to warn her, instead. A teleporting book to Menzoberranzan, made by the same human mage that paid for my services, has gone missing. And someone has found documents I have concerning Chizrae's time as a spy in the Llothian city of Guallidurth. If this human and dark elf go back to Menzoberranzan and ask my lieutenant to hire someone else to kill her, he might tell the First Matron of Guallidurth her location." His voice softened but remained threatening as his feet touched down on the floor once more. "If the Llothians of Guallidurth know where to find her, they'll take her alive and torture her in their dungeons before they slowly kill her." He approached the werewolf and stopped in front of him, sheathing his sword and picking up his shield. Flipping the shield onto his back, he folded his arms over his chest in a sign of weaponless truce. "If you want Chizrae to be spared, you must help me find her _before _other drow are hired to remove her Nerevarine thorn from your Emperor's ass."

As the paralysis poison wore off, Talvalo shifted back into elf form and crouched holding his injured arm. "Dark elf thief ... Jiub?" He looked up with worry.

"That's the one," Daerazal agreed.

Talvalo's nostrils flared. "I knew it! I knew he had something to do with all of that other stuff! Who's the woman?"

"She didn't want me to know her name, but she's an Imperial human with brown hair worn in a tight bun."

"Shazi? Damn!" Talvalo rose and snatched his tattered clothing from the floor but immediately threw himself into the chair facing the fire, to mentally bring all the clues together. The more he thought about it, the more angry it made him. "I'll bet they're the ones that killed Elgian and Selena."

"Was one of them a weapons trainer?" Daerazal met Talvalo's look of confirmation and moved to stand between the gold elf and the firelight in the night-darkened room. "They offered me a contract on you, too, but a friend of mine reminded me that Chizrae is no longer Llothian, ... and neither am I. I despise Llothians, so in spite of what happened between my sister and myself, I don't want her to die at their hands. But if Morrowind spies request Guallidurth assassins, her heart will be carved out and served up to the Spider Queen while it is still beating."

"And how do I know you won't do the same?" Talvalo warily asked.

"I can offer you nothing toward trust at this time, ... other than my word as an Eilistraeen knight and the fact that I did not skewer your brain from above when I had the chance."

Considering the nature of the threat, Talvalo felt he had no choice but to trust the drow. "I was just searching for her when I found out about your arrival. Considering what she's told me about you, … you can't blame me for expecting the worst."

Daerazal said nothing. He couldn't argue with that.

"Knight, eh?" The gold elf checked the blood on his arm. "I don't suppose you know any heal spells. She's cleaned out all our potions downstairs."

"Other than what comes naturally to me, I don't do magic. And _former_ knight - I work for Bregan D'aerthe now. They're a mercenary organization in Menzoberranzan," Daerazal admitted. "But if Chizrae's taken all your healing potions, it sounds like she left voluntarily to go fight someone."

"Yes it does, doesn't it," Talvalo agreed with concern. Standing, he went to the desk, picked up the note, and passed it to Daerazal. "I found this, but I can't read Drow."

Daerazal recognized his own handwriting. "I wrote this. It's just directions to the cavern where I've been staying." He read her note on the other side, too, with the help of the amulet. "Maybe she came to see me while I was in Menzoberranzan, but left before I got back. I should see if she's there now." He dug the teleport ring out of his pocket.

"I'm going with you," Talvalo insisted.

The drow frowned at the bundle of torn clothing the naked altmer precariously held in front of himself. "Not like that, you're not. Might look like we enjoyed a little more than a _friendly chat._"

Talvalo scowled at his brother-in-law's cynical understatement before checking the wound on his bleeding arm and heading upstairs to grab a quick change.

))((

After teleporting into the cavern, Jiub whistled to himself as he walked up the incline toward the stone kitchen. His whistle stopped short, however, when he saw Talvalo sitting on a stool at the table.

"Hello, Jiub. Long time no see. Let's have a chat." He gestured to the stool across from him.

Daerazal slipped out of the shadows behind the thief and grasped the back of his vest while resting the original adamantine Spider Bite across the top of his shoulder, so that its enchanted blade could be clearly seen. It was a warning that if he attempted to teleport out, the drow would follow.

Jiub chuckled nervously at seeing them together. "What's going on? I bring you the scroll you asked for, yet you double-cross me? I see no deal here," he told the drow behind him.

"Really? Because I see you drinking your own blood, and me _taking_ what I want - including your ears - if you don't have a seat," Daerazal warned him in a menacing tone.

With Daerazal's blade a hair's breadth from ending his life, Jiub carefully continued toward the stone table and sat down on the wooden stool across from Talvalo.

Daerazal moved to stand behind him and pressed the flat of Spider Bite's blade to the thief's neck as he kept a grip on his vest.

Talvalo gave Jiub a cold, daggered glare. "Take off every piece of jewelry you own and set out all your weapons. And don't try to hide one from us, unless you want a body cavity search."

Still careful of the sword at his throat, the dunmer scowled at the gold elf and began removing all of his necklaces, rings, and earrings and placed them on the stone table. Glancing past his shoulder to the drow behind him, he set out his throwing stars, daggers, and short sword.

Talvalo pulled them beyond Jiub's reach and sorted through them, pocketing the teleport ring. After a moment, he found the domination charm identical to Chizrae's and paused to show it to the thief, waiting for the explanation.

"Just so you know, I'm the one that knocked you out because you weren't supposed to see the Menzoberranzan book, but it was Shazi's idea to make you hunt Elgian on his way home," Jiub answered the accusing glare. "Shazi's got my prison records from Imperial City, so I totally sympathize with you having to obey orders against your will. I was just following orders, too. You think I wanted to get sent back to the Prison District for saying no to her after she told me she had a plan to kill the Nerevarine?"

"Did you kill Selena?"

Jiub had never seen Talvalo look quite so ominous as he did at that moment, but he remained calm. "After Shazi cast the domination spell to make you walk you outside, she tested the charm to see if she could make you transform. It worked, so she told you to change back, handed me the charm, and went home. That's when I saw Selena standing at the door of the inn. I didn't know how much she saw, but … we couldn't afford to let her say anything."

"So you murdered her and made it look like one of us did it."

The thief leaned across the table and whispered with a sneer of disgust. "At least I was more humane with Selena than you were with Elgian. I almost lost my stomach when you ripped out his -"

Talvalo lurched forward and jerked the thief half-way over the table. "What _you made_ me do to Eligan! I was in complete control of my were-form until domination magic was used on me!"

"Then realize that Shazi's the Imperial agent, and I'm just her mercenary! She's the one that wanted to get rid of you and Chizrae, so that her precious Empire doesn't fall apart at the seams! Do I look like I give a shit about what happens to the Empire?"

"Does Olin know what she's doing? Is he in on this, too?"

"Olin never attended our meetings, but he's an Imperial Cult priest. Whose side do you think he'd take if pressed about it?" Jiub's eyes narrowed.

Talvalo roughly pushed the thief back across the table and stood. Facing the fire, he took a moment to regain control of his temper. "Was Shazi offered the Archmage's chair for doing this?"

"She's had her eye on it."

"And what did you have your eye on?"

"You mean other than not being shipped back to Imperial City's Prison District? Mysthaven."

The altmer kept his back to the dunmer. "Mysthaven was worth more to you than our lives?"

"Let's just say Chizrae's not the only wanderer who's dreamed of living the quiet life in a nice, secure home," the thief cynically answered.

"You were probably the closest thing to a friend that Chizrae ever had in this world."

The dunmer scoffed at the notion. "Drow don't want friends. All they want is to protect their own interests. Isn't that right, _D_?" he added over his shoulder to the dark warrior maintaining a vigil over him.

Disgusted at the answers he was getting from this conversation, Talvalo cast a spell on himself that would allow him to double-check the thoroughness of Jiub's surrendered items. "There's something inside the cuff of his left boot," he told the drow.

Jiub grumbled and reached to removed it, but Daerazal shifted Spider Bite's angle to remind him to sit still while he removed the item himself. "See. I did bring the scroll," the thief told him. "But it's worth more than you gave me for it because it's a dwemer artifact requested directly from the Arcane Academy in Imperial City, … delivered to Shazi by the former spymaster of Vvardenfell himself. I was hoping we could come to a better arrangement concerning the price of the trade."

"You're a battlemage, right?" Daerazal spoke to Talvalo. "Tell me if this summons a portal to another plane, or if he brought me a forgery."

The altmer caught the scroll that was tossed at him and unrolled it on the table to examine it.

"I saw her make that book, you know," Jiub inserted. "I was in the alchemy lab with her the whole time, and I'll give you fair warning. You don't want to mess with that scroll unless you know what you're doing. I may not understand much about magic, but I know fucking scary when I see it."

The drow turned his attention back to their hostage and leaned close to his ear. "Where is the book now?"

Jiub chuckled nervously again. "How the hell should I know?"

Daerazal pulled the thief's chin back and positioned Spider Bite under it, ready to claim his head. "Where's the god-damn book?"

"I don't know! It's not my problem any more!"

"Either you tell me what the fuck is going on, or I'm going to _make_ it your problem!" the drow threatened with waning patience. "Did Shazi take the book so she could ask Kimmuriel to replace me?"

"That book was still here the last time I saw it, I swear! And if Shazi had wanted to contact Kimmuriel again, she would have sent _me!_ She hated Menzoberranzan when she tested the book in the alchemy lab. And I can't blame her! It's the most vile civilization I've seen since the Sixth House Cult!" The thief's nerves were beginning to betray him, and he realized too late he probably shouldn't have said that to a native.

"This is incredible." Talvalo's expression drew into one of concern as he spread the scroll open further to smooth all four corners of the ancient canvas. "I didn't know this kind of thing even existed. I don't even see how it's possible for a mortal to cast this type of magic."

Both the thief and the warrior looked up from their argument and waited for him to explain.

"This isn't a magic scroll. It's a daedric summoning spell - not the kind that summons daedra to your service, but something a daedra might use to summon a piece of Aetherius into a Sigil Stone. This spell commands raw Aetherius into servitude as if it were a daedra. It enables the summoner to work with the raw composition of what makes magic possible." He looked up and realized by the blank expressions that neither of the dark elves knew what he was talking about.

"Plain language, mage," Daerazal reminded him with irritation.

"This scroll can create gateways through all of time and space. Is that plain enough for you?" Talvalo set his elbows on the table and folded one hand over the other as he spoke in earnest. "One of the Tribunal gods of Morrowind, Sotha Sil, once said, 'There are layers to understanding all things.' In the schools of magic on this world, we are taught that there are layers upon layers of existence, you see. And those outermost layers contain the very essence of life, death, and magic - the Aetherius. Ethereal planes, like Oblivion, keep the Aetherius separated from us, but there is actually very little to keep us separated from those other planes."

The drow frowned at his own lack of understanding. "Where's Oblivion?"

"It's not so much a _where_ as a _what_. It's known in many cultures by many names, but it's one of the planes on which the demon lords live."

"Then my world knows it as one of the layers of the Abyss."

"Possibly." The altmer battlemage straightened his long frame to stand his full height. "There are two important legends in Tamriel concerning what prevents planes like Oblivion from spilling out upon us. One is that Sotha Sil himself went to a place called the Dreaming Cavern on the Isle of Artaeum. There's said to be some kind of gate into Oblivion there because of a story about a pact that he made with the daedric princes. No one knows the details of the pact, but they agreed to no longer answer the call of just anyone. Only members of the Psijic Order and a few other lucky chosen ones can speak with them now - such as the case of the Nerevarine's aid from Azura. Some people fear that if anything happens to Sotha Sil, the pact will be broken and daedra will be free to swarm into Tamriel creating chaos."

"Psijic Order? Is that like psionics?"

Talvalo could only shake his head in apology. "I don't know what psionics is."

"What's the other legend?" Daerazal asked.

"The other legend involves Tiber Septim - Talos, the Dragonborn," Talvalo continued. "He is the one that conquered all of Tamriel and ushered in the Third Empire. He's a man-god and founder of the Imperial Cult. It is said that as long as his lineage holds the throne, the gates of Oblivion will be sealed. The pact acknowledges there's more than one gateway into Oblivion. But rumors out of Imperial City don't look good these days." He paused. "The Emperor is aging, and his heirs have been killed. People worry about what might happen when he fades."

"Shazi worries," Jiub inserted.

Talvalo leaned on the table, stopping inches away from Jiub's nose. "The Emperor's condition is no excuse to remove Chizrae as a threat, especially after everything she's done for him," he coolly answered before straightening and returning his attention to the drow. "There is also a third school of thought, though. It claims there are tears in the fabric of the planes. We perceive them as stars, but there is a wide-spread belief among the mage guilds that entering a star can take you right into Aetherius."

"Shazi said something about a magnus when I asked her for instructions on making the portal?" Daerazal added. "Does that sound relevant?"

"Magnus? There's nothing on the scroll about Magnus, but his symbol is the sun - the biggest hole of all in the fabric." Talvalo came around the table to face the drow. "That book isn't enchanted with a spell. It's a summoned gate - a summoned star, of sorts - packaged into an artifact that can be carried about. It's the composition of the mystical element itself. It's the difference between lighting a candle to create light, and creating light out of nothing. If the portal wasn't anchored to another exact location, it could tear open a hole anywhere that Aetherius touches, … because that's what it _is_." He paused to let that sink in.

"My psionic lieutenant can cross the Astral plane using only the power of his mind; but he doesn't do it very often because of the dangers." Daerazal tried hard to make the connection. "I saw two shelves of books like this in your library. Could Chizrae use one of them to leave this plane?"

Talvalo shook his head. "Those books use regular teleportation spells. It's very possible Chizrae used one of the Realmsfade books to travel somewhere else in Vvardenfell, but … that's as far as they reach. I think Shazi used them as models for this one just because she liked the idea of a book being the gateway to another world. The magic, however, is very different. Now that I think about it, though, … it's possible Chizrae already has something like this planar gate. How else could she have come to Morrowind?"

"She's plane hopped several times according to a mutual acquaintance," Daerazal confirmed.

Talvalo drew closer to the drow with concern. "Chizrae suspected the Mage Guild and the Imperial Blades were spying on her for some time. Her spymaster in the Blades even told her as much and warned her to leave the continent. I don't know if she's figured out that Shazi is behind this, but if she left armed for battle, I'm afraid she may have gone to Imperial City to confront the Elder Council directly. It would be a foolish thing to do by herself, but she went into Red Mountain alone as the Nerevarine. If she confronts the Emperor about spying on her, … she could provoke the second half of the prophecy without intending to."

Daerazal sighed with disgust. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time she's screwed herself because of a prophecy, considering that's what happened in Guallidurth."

"Her note told me to arm myself and hide, but said she would be back. Regardless of where she went, she _will_ come back, … right? I mean, she wouldn't just abandon ship, … would she?"

The drow seemed to have trouble believing the gold elf could care that much for his sister, but after a moment, he dug into his pocket and held up the stolen teleport key. "I don't need this any more. Go home and wait for her. Then both of you can use the teleport ring to come back here after she returns. Meanwhile, my only way home is missing, and I intend to find it." He cast the thief a cutting side-glance.

Talvalo nodded in agreement, but then lifted the domination charm. "If you still think Shazi has the book, I have an idea how to recover it." He gave the dunmer a similar glance.

Jiub had been half-lost and half-fascinated by the discussion on magic, but he was kind of hoping they had forgotten about him. No such luck.

))((

Shazi was eating dinner with her husband when someone knocked on the door of their small Balmora apartment. She had been stressed out for one thing after another since inviting that horrible drow into Morrowind, and yet she still had no results. This was taking too long. The longer it took, the higher the risk for the operation to be discovered. Olin excused himself to answer it, since he could tell she was in no mood for company, but she could hear the conversation from her short distance away in the dining area.

"Why hello, there, Jiub. What brings you here? Would you like to come in?" he stepped aside to invite an old friend into his home.

"Actually, I just came to see Shazi about something important - a message from the Mage Guild," Jiub answered.

"Very well, but do come visit again when you have some free time. It's good to see you again." He smiled as he left the door to gesture to his wife that she had company. "Shazi?"

The enchantress quickly wiped her mouth on her napkin and shoved her seat back, but tried to slow the quickness in her steps as she crossed the floor. "Juib, how nice to see you," she gave him a perfunctory smile. "Was there something you needed?"

"A message." He gestured for her to come outside to hear it.

"I'll be right back dear. This is rather confidential guild business," she called back to her husband. Stepping outside, she closed the door behind her, and the smile immediately became lost to a very unhappy frown. "What are you doing here? I told you never to contact me at home. You're supposed to go to the Mage Guild so I can make it look like official business," she whispered.

Daerazal stepped out of the shadows of the space between her building and the one next to it.

Shazi jumped slightly at his sudden presence, but then angered. "You're not supposed to be here either. What is wrong with you two? Don't you understand the risks for all three of us if we're seen talking together?" she hissed with worry. A third figure came from the shadows, but as he drew near, her consciousness darkened so that she wasn't even sure whether she was awake or asleep. She saw nothing. She heard nothing. She only knew that she had to obediently follow.

))((

When Shazi came back into her own awareness, she looked around and realized she was in the makeshift kitchen of Jiub's cavern hideout, and her accomplice and her assassin were standing before her. "What is the meaning of this? I didn't even get to put a mark spell on my home. Now I have no cloak and no way back without walking all the way to Suran." But in the middle of her rant, she noticed Talvalo leaning against the wall behind them. The copied domination charm hung about his neck against his shirt in full view.

"Hello, Shazi," the altmer greeted her with a flat tone. "Would you happen to know where Chizrae is?"

The mage stiffened and folded her arms in protest. "How should I know where she is?"

"You're the spy that's been trying to have her killed, that's how." Talvalo calmly straightened.

Shazi steamed silently for a minute and then cut a glare toward Jiub seconds before slapping him across the cheek so hard that his blue jaw turned a shade of purple combined with the red imprint left by her hand. "How dare you," she seethed. "The Empire cannot tolerate these kinds of leaks. You have put _both_ of our lives on the line now."

She had more scathing reprimands for him on the tip of her tongue, but her peripheral vision happened to catch the scroll spread open across the stone table. She looked up at Daerazal in shock. "Where did you get that?" She turned sharply on Jiub again. "Did you steal that from me and give it to them?" She raised her hand to strike him again, but Daerazal's caught it and twisted her arm behind her back. Shazi cried out and nearly doubled in pain at the awkward position.

She turned to pull free from his grasp, but the drow mercenary was stronger and quicker. Without much of a struggle, he wrapped one arm across her torso and braced her firmly against his chest. Her arm was still pinned behind her back, between them, in a very uncomfortable position that, at the same time, prevented her from casting spells. His other hand held a slender, dark sword that hummed with layers of enchantments. Chizrae's daedric longsword had those exact same layers, so she was familiar with how deadly the magic was, never mind the sharpness of the blade.

The drow spoke to her ear as he held her firmly immobile. "Did you take the book and return to Menzoberranzan to find someone else to kill her?"

"What? No! Though, I admit I did think about it a few times since you weren't doing anything!" she acridly returned.

With both Talvalo and Daerazal's attention completely on Shazi, Jiub darted for his confiscated weapons. A second later, the battlemage hit him with a paralysis spell.

Shazi realized that in the several months she'd worked on the estate, she'd never seen Talvalo engaged in a fight outside of his argument with Elgian. He hadn't used magic then, so she had no idea what kinds of magic he could use now. She marked the paralysis spell in her memory because there was no way to fight back against that one without a potion of resistance or antidote. If she got the chance, Talvalo would have to be silenced before he could use that spell on her.

"I didn't bring my sword, and you have a spare," the altmer told the drow as he approached. With Daerazal's nod, Talvalo grabbed the unused blade from his other scabbard and positioned himself before the paralyzed thief's body on the floor. "Jiub, did I ever tell you I was a pirate?" He raised the black blade to study its drow design and took note of the dried blood on the curved edge. "A pirate's life was interesting because I started as a thief just like you, but I had to learn to be more versatile so I could fight with swords _and_ magic on land _and_ water - even _under_ water sometimes."

As the spell wore off, Jiub sat up and rubbed his smooth head. "Gods, ... Is this going to lead to another one of your stories? I'd prefer the paralysis spell."

"So be it." Talvalo slashed the front of the dark elf's chest, and a long, thin cut bled through his vest. "But don't test me again. I'm not in the mood for stories tonight," he answered with a grim expression. The blood on the blade - his blood - still had the drow's poison residue in it, and Jiub keeled over again, limp as a rag doll.

"You should kill him," Daerazal advised. "He's no longer useful."

"Much as I'd love to, believe me, I'd rather wait until Chizrae returns. Once we hear from her, if she doesn't need them to confess before the Elder Council or something, I will let her do the honors." The altmer moved to the robe with glowing runes draped over a stool at the table. "I assume this is protective magic?"

Daerazal shrugged. "Beats me. Belongs to an acquaintance of mine, Cean'nafein Dyrr. He's a necromancer, if that makes any difference. My lieutenant from Bregan D'aerthe brought him along when he came to visit, but Cean left ... unexpectedly."

Talvalo laid the sword on the table and lifted the robe to examine the runes before slipping it on. It was a perfect fit, so he fastened just enough toggles to cover his chest. "Maybe they took the book." He reclaimed the sword when he was finished.

The drow shook his head. "Cean'nafein screwed with the book, but if you knew him, you'd realize that means the book got the last laugh. And Kimmuriel wouldn't take the portal and leave me here without collecting that scroll first. The scroll is the only thing he wants out of this. That's why I believe he might be willing to barter it in exchange for contacting Guallidurth."

"_Who_ is Guallidurth?" Shazi asked, still in discomfort at the way she was being held. There was no way she would let the drow get his filthy hands on her scroll, but perhaps she had been dealing with the wrong drow.

"Guallidurth is a temple city full of Llothian drow," Daerazal begrudgingly informed her.

"Is it anything like Menzoberranzan?" Talvalo asked. "I've never seen any drow city, but Chizrae talks about it a lot."

"Menzoberranzan is a small trade city. We have only one temple tucked away in a high cavern, and everyone must bridle their hatred of the surface races to some degree in order to keep the flow of imports and exports going. Guallidurth has more temples than any other drow city I know of. They don't buck-up their hatred for anyone anywhere for any reason. They're older and more established than we are, and they've been known to enslave entire towns. You would never be able to negotiate with them without the aid of a group like Bregan D'aerthe backing you. But they might be interested in negotiations if they knew they could get their hands on Chizrae. She spied on them for some Eilistraeen priestesses and humans, and then stole one of their ancient artifacts and delivered it to a human mage to have its magic destroyed. Llothians never forget that kind of betrayal."

Talvalo's lip curled into a snarl. "And your lieutenant would sell her out to them?"

"Only for the right price. Kimmuriel is not as big on expanding Bregan D'aerthe's market as Jarlaxle was. He believes Bregan D'aerthe will be stronger by not being spread so thin, so he prefers to stay focused on Menzoberranzan. I think he would like to see Bregan D'aerthe eventually become stronger than the Llothian matriarchs. Most of us who have felt the sting of their whips feel that way. So, we watch and wait, … and play the right cards at the right time. Kimmuriel wants nothing to do with Morrowind or Guallidurth. And he has no feelings about Chizrae one way or the other, having met her only a few, brief times. But one thing that might tempt him to play the Guallidurth card would be that scroll."

Shazi's fingers twitched. She was dying to release some kind of magical attack at the first opportunity. To her side, Jiub stretched into a sitting position as the numbing poison wore off. She had no sympathy for him since he'd stolen her dwemer scroll behind her back, but she could tell he was getting frustrated with being held in this cavern. As Talvalo and Daerazal talked, the thief shifted into a crouched position and saw another opportunity to escape. Shazi called to mind her silence spell and readied herself.

Jiub sprang into Talvalo, grabbing his sword arm by the wrist and pushing the gold elf's spine down against the stone table as hard as he could. He followed up the attack by leveling a punch across the altmer's jaw.

The Imperial enchantress gasped in horror at the brawl that was taking place _on top of_ her precious artifact.

Daerazal's grip on her tightened. "Utter one arcane syllable, and you will never cast magic again," he warned as he held his sword over her exposed wrist.

Shazi froze perfectly still, terrified of losing her hand. "Juib! Talvalo! Don't either of you dare damage that scroll! That's an extremely rare dwemer artifact!"

Protecting the rare scroll, however, was the last thing on Talvalo's mind. He pushed the dunmer off of him long enough to stand up and strike back. Jiub recovered his short sword and blocked the attack. Then, he pushed him back and stabbed the altmer in the ribs. A fire spell exploded from within the short sword's enchanted blade. Talvalo winced in awful pain and withdrew. Apparently, the runes on the drow wizard's robe were not intended to deflect weapons. Using Daerazal's sword to keep the thief at arm's length, the battlemage began casting. Jiub cried out and tried to run, but the magic that flew from the altmer's hands caught and engulfed the dunmer's torso in flames.

Shazi tried to pull free and aid her thief as he rolled on the floor, dousing the flames on his clothing, but the drow mercenary continued to pin her against himself. Jiub's skin was badly scorched and blistered in some places. Having lost twice to Talvalo, the injured and bitter thief withdrew into a corner and grabbed a water jug to pour over his arms and hands. Then, he grabbed two more for his chest and head.

Talvalo's chest rose and fell heavily as he held his defensive position for a minute and glared at his long-time rival, but as he straightened, he looked down to his ribs. The wound itself was not visible because of the robe, but plenty of blood was seeping through the fabric.

"How bad is it?" Daerazal asked.

"It's deep, … and it burns." The altmer's expression and tone indicated the serious nature of the injury as he stumbled forward and braced himself against the table. Blood began to seep between the fingers he held to the wound. "I need Chizrae."

"Wasn't something _supposed_ to happen to her?" a voice asked from the slope at the tomb entrance.

Shazi and everyone else turned toward the source to see a slight-framed, unarmored drow stroll casually into their circle.

"That _is_ why we're here, isn't it?" Kimmuriel's eyes settled on her with cold, hard interest. "You don't look like Chizrae at all, my dear." He looked to his operative for an explanation.

"H-how did you get in here?" Shazi asked, offended and dismayed that a stray drow had entered their supposedly secret lair.

The psionicist answered with a subtle smirk and held up a hand to show her the copied teleport ring on his finger. The fact that it just _happened_ to be the middle one on his right hand evoked a cold glare from her in return.

"This is the woman who hired Jiub to hire us," Daerazal offered, but then switched topics with mild apprehension. "Don't switch me off of this job. You left it up to me how to handle it, and I've decided they're not worth the hire."

"How you handle it is up to you. Whether they're worth the hire is up to me," Kimmuriel corrected. He glanced toward the burned dark elf in the corner and approached the injured gold elf at the table. His piercing gaze fell from Talvalo's telling expression to the wound beneath his bloody hand ... to the canvas scroll spread beneath his clean hand and Daerazal's borrowed sword. "However, perhaps I can be persuaded to agree with your assessment of the situation. Is this my scroll?"

"_Your _scroll?" Shazi became alarmed. "Are you his commander?"

"Moreso than you," Kimmuriel retorted as he lingered over the ancient artifact.

"Then you both work for me. _I'm_ the one who hired _you_. Don't forget that. I've paid well, but your incompetent assassin hasn't done his job! How dare you let him treat me like this! I demand another hire - one from Guallidurth!"

Kimmuriel pulled the scroll toward himself as he ignored her demands. "And who are you?" he asked of the gold elf next to him.

"Chizrae's husband, Talvalo."

Kimmuriel's opinions of gold elves and mixed racial unions registered visibly on his ebon face as he turned to face his operative. "She married a _gold_ elf? That alone is enough to warrant execution."

Talvalo's nostrils flared at the insult, but then he winced at the continued pain in his ribs and held his tongue.

"If it weren't for the fact that Chizrae is your sister, Daerazal, I would drop this contract in a heartbeat." Irritated, he returned his eyes to his new scroll and began to carefully roll it shut.

"I want it dropped," Daerazal stated.

Kimmuriel shrugged. "Consider it dropped, then. I have what I came for. If you're packed and have the portal, we can go home."

"I don't have the portal. Someone stole it," Daerazal admitted with frustration.

Shazi was outraged. "You can't just drop the contract! You're the only ones who can defeat her, and we invested a lot of money, time, and effort into bringing you here! You have no idea how difficult it was to get that scroll and make that book!"

"Annoying creature ..." Without batting an eye, Kimmuriel's mind entered the cellular matter of Shazi's vocal chords to silence her.

Shazi's eyes widened in fear as her vocal chords, throat, and tongue unnaturally constricted. She was being affected by some kind of magic that didn't act like normal magic. She could breathe, but the passageway became so narrow that she choked and coughed with each inhale and exhale. For the first time since concocting the idea of hiring one drow to kill another, Shazi realized the fatal flaw in her plan. She had trusted them.

Her only hope in surviving this affair now was to grab the scroll and flee. She just had no idea how to get it or her teleport ring out of the willowy lieutenant's grasp.


	19. Chapter 19: Promises to Keep

Chapter 19: Promises to Keep

The drow dug her nails into the loose rocks and climbed to the top of the last mountain between Vvardenfell and the sea. She had used up her levitation potions crossing the many ranges and inlets between Molag Mar and here, but she chose to climb the last stretch of the journey on foot because she needed to conserve her magic for this moment. As the golden sun of a new day rose halfway out of the sea, 'painting watercolors across the sky', Chizrae drank in the beauty of the landscape high above the coastline with some measure of sadness. She remembered a time thirty years ago when she could not have done this. And yet, for all she knew, she had come this far only to lose everything again. The drow took a deep breath of ocean breeze and thought of Talvalo, ... her home, ... and Loki, before casting her levitation spell.

She rose easily up to the small ledge before the door of the shrine of Azura and entered. This daedric shrine, unlike most, was completely empty, except for the large, central statue of the female demon prince with a moon in one hand and a star in the other. Smoky blue sconces shrouded it in a mysterious light, and red hot braziers snapped and glittered with ever-burning flames. As Chizrae slowly crossed the wide expanse of black marbleized stones, she gazed up at the alabaster figure before her. Then, she stopped before the base of the pedestal on which the statue stood and knelt as if in prayer.

With her eyes she counted - one, two, three bricks over. Then, she slid her hand along the wall to remove a loose brick. Her fingers reached into the small space and drew out a glowing stone with an arcane glyph on it. The stone was warm and vibrant with magic so that it felt alive to her touch. This was a last resort, but she bowed her head in prayer to invoke the spirit of the shrine.

"Azura, ... thank you for keeping watch over Vilharina's stone. You gave me safe passage through the nether regions to this place when I needed a new home, but now I must ask that you guide me … and someone else … back out toward another." She waited for a moment and then slid the loose brick back into place.

"_Your promise is not yet fulfilled,"_ the statue softly answered through a voice from another dimension.

Chizrae looked up in astonishment. Azura had spoken to her directly only a few rare times during her entire Nerevarine ordeal, but more than that, the answer was not at all what she expected or wanted to hear. "Dagoth Ur has been redeemed and destroyed, just as the Prophecy foretold. Morrowind is safe now because I kept my promise to go wherever you sent me in exchange for safe passage. But the Empire now seeks to kill me! They bring drow assassins from my homeland!"

_"You are still needed here in Morrowind ."_

"I've done what I could! I am not the reincarnate of Nerevar Indoril!" she shouted back at the statue, realizing too late that she'd just lost her temper with a daedra prince. Chizrae abruptly quieted and expected lightning to strike her dead.

When only silence followed her outburst, the drow bowed in an heap of frightened nerves at the base of the statue. "Please, ... I can't do this anymore."

_"All of creation is a cycle bound by the laws of balance, for it is impossible to create something from nothing. If there is to be a dawn, there must also be dusk. To create a passage elsewhere, you must destroy what keeps you here. Just as you redeemed and destroyed Dagoth Ur, you have redeemed and must now destroy Morrowind. When current circumstance fails, there will be room for something new. At that time, if you still wish to leave, I can create a safe passage beyond it. Until the promise is kept, you risk being trapped in a state of indecision and stagnation that you yourself will create."_

The drowess opened her eyes and stared at the dark floor. Had she heard right? It couldn't be ...

Chizrae knew somehow that the conversation was already over. She felt betrayed again. Had the daedric prince told her why she was being led to Morrowind, or had she taken the time to ask about the details of their deal, she would have never agreed to this. Had she been tricked into it? Or had she been impulsive and foolish in her desire to escape Faerun? Perhaps a little of both. Perhaps she risked being impulsive and foolish again in asking for escape from Morrowind. The drow looked down at the stone in her hands and almost put it back in her hiding place, but the thought of abandoning all hope of escape made her grip it that much tighter. "But I'm not … Nerevar ..." With no one around to mock her, she did something she had not done since she was a child. Clutching the Eilistraeen priestess's rune stone in her cold, dirty hands, she crumpled on the ancient, ruined floor and allowed herself to shed some tears. When the moment of despair had run its course, Chizrae pocketed the stone, but had to give up trying to enlist the aid of Azura any further, … for now.

Standing, she dried her eyes and tried to regain composure before using her Mysthaven key to teleport home. For a long moment, all she could think of was how tired she was and how much she wanted to bathe and sleep after her journey over the mountains, but she knew time was wasting. She needed to go to Vos, so that she could explain everything to Talvalo. Hopefully, he found her note and was in his werewolf lair stocked with arms and supplies. She would leave Morrowind with or without the help of Azura, and she wanted Talvalo to leave with her. They would deal with whoever was behind this in Imperial City later.

First, there was the matter of the drow assassins haunting her footsteps. How many had Guallidurth sent to that small cavern? One? Three? If she fled, they would simply continue to track her, possibly leading her into fighting on two fronts. They had invaded her sanctum and held incriminating evidence on those scrolls. She cursed herself for not burning everything before leaving their lair. But why had they left such a blatant clue where to find them? It was as if they wanted to be found. Knowing she could be heading into a death trap, the drow grabbed the note from her desk once more and ran downstairs to her library. At the Realmsfade books once more, she drew a deep breath and grabbed the book that would take her to Suran.

))((

Jiub watched helplessly as Shazi struggled against the invisible force the Bregan D'aerthe lieutenant held her with. He made no move to aid her because he was badly burned, and he remembered the splattered kobold. Kimmuriel was a complete riddle in terms of what he could do. Now that he was present, any attempt to escape would be … unwise.

"Why didn't you just kill them?" Kimmuriel complained to Daerazal.

"Because Chizrae and the Menzoberranzan book are still missing," Talvalo answered instead. He had lost a lot of blood and was beginning to look weak. "I'm not burning any bridges until I know where they lead. Whatever you're doing to her, release it so I can ask her some questions."

Kimmuriel's expression fell slightly at the gold elf who dared to command him, but then he released Shazi from his psionic grasp. "Information is always important." Slouching against the rock wall behind him, he sighed in boredom, but waited to hear what she had to say.

"Is Olin involved in this conspiracy?" Talvalo asked her.

Shazi coughed and rubbed her throat after the strange and frightening experience of being choked by an unseen force. "Olin? Dear gods, no. His faith in the Nine Divines keeps him content, … and blind. He doesn't see the big picture at all. The Emperor is aging and heir-less. When the Septim lineage dies with him, the entire Empire will be vulnerable to provincial uprisings, draining too many warriors and resources at a time when all of Tamriel might be facing an impending invasion from Oblivion. And because of the Nerevarine Prophecy, Morrowind is the province most likely to squeeze the trigger on the crossbow that kills him."

"So, Olin's belief in the Nine Divines is foolish, but your belief in old prophecies is legitimate enough to warrant assassination of a _supposed_ assassin?"

"Prayers won't save the Septim lineage, but there are several legends across the continent concerning a daedric invasion from Oblivion - all of which are older than the divinity of Tiber Septim himself. But whether the legends are true or not, it's not prophecy that frightens me. It's the people who believe them. When the Emperor's Blades forced circumstances to solve the immediate problem of the blight storms from Red Mountain, they didn't consider the consequences of bringing an ancient prophecy to life. The ashlanders and half of the civil population of this land now believe Azura has delivered a messiah to them. The Blades can't tell them she's a fraud because it will expose their own hand in tricking the natives into believing a lie. They can't punish her because that would make her a martyr. But if they _don't_ do something to quietly remove Morrowind's symbol of revolution, we will all suffer - including you. That golden skin won't win too many dunmer allies among the anti-Imperialist sympathizers if a war starts, _Lord Shalonethyr of Imperial City._"

Talvalo scowled deeply at the human's emphasis on his race and inheritance. "Did this decision to assassinate the Nerevarine come down from the Emperor, the Elder Council, or the Blades?"

"Let's just say the leadership in Imperial City is a bit divided on how to handle the problem, but I'll stand on the side that's willing to do without one individual if it will spare the entire empire," she proudly admitted.

"That individual did nothing to deserve being betrayed after she put her life on the line for them!" he said, becoming angry. "If she hadn't agreed to go under Red Mountain - _alone_ - to wipe out Dagoth Ur's blight, it would have taken over Morrowind and moved into Imperial City and rest of Tamriel!"

"A lot of good it'll do if Morrowind isn't on good relations with the Empire when Uriel Septim dies! Oblivion invasion or not, Tamriel will be torn apart, province-by-province in civil war without an Emperor!" she snapped, making a stern gesture with her hand.

Daerazal quickly set Spider Blade back in front of her. "Keep your hands open and where I can see them, or I'm going to tell Talvalo to use that little domination charm again to keep them still," he warned, cautious of any hand movement that might draw magic into a quick spell.

Talvalo winced and bowed over the table, smearing blood on it from hand. "It's like all of civilization is chipping away at the same piece of rock, but we're unable to agree on what it is that we're making," he muttered in frustration. "At that rate we could chip it down to nothing. How's that for a prophecy?"

"Transform," Daerazal suggested, seeing the amount of blood on Talvalo's hand. "They told me that your wounds could heal themselves in wereform."

The altmer shook his head. "If there's one thing I learned well in alteration and mysticism studies it's that damaged items do not withstand the process of mutation well. An injured organ could tear open further and become misaligned."

Shazi snorted. "I still can't believe the two of you tried to keep that a secret. A dangerous thing like that should not have been kept from the rest of us! Chizrae used me to make those charms without telling the truth about why she needed them. Cunning little bitch. I don't even understand why either of you wish to spare someone like her - a brother who tried to kill her multiple times and a husband who's being used as a bed warmer and a guard dog. Jiub was right. She couldn't possibly love you, Talvalo. She told all of us to our faces that she didn't trust us, and she changes her mind on allegiances as easily as flipping a coin. When you're no longer useful; she'll throw you away."

Talvalo's expression darkened. "Kind of like how Chizrae's no longer useful to the Empire, so now they want to kill her? At least Vivec had the decency to invite her to stay in Morrowind after what she'd done for -."

"Vivec and the rest of his Tribunal are traitors to the empire!" Shazi accused. "When the magic of the Ghostfence was failing, they did _nothing_ to help because they thought the blight would make the Empire run from Morrowind with its tail between its legs."

"Who do you think created the Ghostfence and maintained it faithfully until their powers began to weaken?" he shot back.

"The Tribunal viewed the Nerevarine as a heretic and tried to hunt her down, and they are no better than the ashlanders when it comes to pushing for civil war!"

"Shut up!" Kimmuriel interrupted the argument with a menacing glare. "If you don't shut up, I'll shut you up myself - permanently this time."

An uncomfortable silence followed until Talvalo bowed to the table again. "I need to lie down," he told Daerazal. Removing the domination charm from his neck, he passed it to him. "Anyone can use it, … if it's needed again."

"There's a bedroll in the back. Kimm and I can handle these two."

The altmer nodded and retreated in discomfort to the back portion of the cavern.

"Actually ..." Daerazal passed the amulet to Kimmuriel. "If you can watch over them, I'll go look for Chizrae again. She might have returned to the house by now. If not, I'll leave her another note explaining everything."

Kimmuriel eyed the magical amulet as if he'd been handed a worthless piece of junk, but then he shifted his gaze to his two captives and smirked. "Perhaps ... you should tell me more about this scroll."

Shazi scowled back at him with her best display of discontent, but Jiub shrank back against the wall and obediently kept his silence without further threat. Jiub knew the mounting tension was only going to get worse if the situation stayed like this much longer. Unsure who would break it, but certain Kimmuriel would win, he chose to keep quiet and cautious for now.

))((

Daerazal cloaked himself in his _piwafwi_ and left the cavern for the tomb. Just as he reached for the outer door to check the time of day, however, it opened on its own. Blinding sunlight hit his sensitive eyes, forcing him to back away, but before he could blink away the painful blur, the door itself hit him in the face - hard. He was shoved against the wall with force, and a dark figure raised a red and black sword, holding the point to his throat. That was all he needed to see to know he needed to hold very still.

"_You?_ They sent _you_ to kill me?" she demanded with surprise. "Are they not aware of the fact that you failed at your attempts to kill me in the past?"

As Chizrae's familiar features came into focus, Daerazal offered a somewhat cocky, although strained, smile. "Ah, dear sister. It's good to see you again, too. Sounds like you're already aware that Jiub and Shazi have a contract with Bregan D'aerthe."

"_What? _I _knew_ it! That explains a lot, actually." Chizrae's face drew into a bitter scowl, but apparently, she was not aware of at least one part of that formula. Her sword switched from his throat to underneath his nose as she continued with suspicion. "But … why would Bregan D'aerthe have scrolls about my Guallidurth mission?"

"Those were written by Cean'nafein for Kimmuriel, ... for me."

Chizrae's anger melted into disappointment at the unexpected news. "Cean'nafein sold me out?"

"No, he was trying to save you, ... in his own weird and demented way."

Now she was confused. "I don't understand. No assassins from Guallidurth are after me? Not at all?"

"Not that I know of, but … it could have come to that."

"Then the scrolls, that person on the roof, and the note on my desk ... That was all you?"

"Yes."

"Then _you_ intend to kill me?" she defensively asked.

He shook his head. "No, … but if I hadn't accepted the contract, Kimm would have handed it to someone else - not necessarily because he wants the business, but because he wants the portal to Menzoberranzan closed. I did a little spying and, based on what I found out, I decided to drop the contract. We stand on equal ground now, you and I." Daerazal lifted the waist of his armor and shirt to display the silver scar she had given him the last time they met. "It matches the one on my face. We are even now, yes?"

Chizrae remembered giving him those wounds and lowered her sword. Releasing him, she backed away, but remained cautious.

Daerazal let go of the armor and shirt. "I guess I should have left my name on the note, but I didn't think you'd come if you knew it was me." He paused a moment, and his eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Wait, are _you_ the one that raided my things? Did you take the book? That's my only way back to Menzoberranzan."

Chizrae sheathed her sword and reached into her bag to remove the wrapped book. "I thought it went to Guallidurth." She was visibly relieved that she had misunderstood, but her paranoia was still too tangible to feel at ease. "So, … no one is here to kill me?"

Daerazal accepted the book from her. "Well, … Jiub and Shazi."

The drowess's eyes narrowed as bitter anger returned. "Jiub and Shazi ..."

"Talvalo and I managed to get the entire confession from them, but we held off disposing of them until you could come. I thought you might like to have a little _chat_ with them," he offered with a wry smirk.

"Talvalo's here? What have you done to him?" She leaned into his face with a glare.

"I didn't touch him," he answered with a defensive frown, but then shrugged. "Well, I cut his arm, but it was the only way I could make him listen to me. Jiub stabbed him in the ribs, though. He could use a healer, … if you are still capable of divine magic."

"I'm no longer capable of divine magic, but the weave of this world works differently and I have learned some healing spells without the aid of any gods. Take me to him, … but so help me if you are lying about any of it, I will end these games between us once and for all," she warned with a snarl.

Daerazal nodded at what he felt was a fair warning and led her down to the lower level and through the cavern entrance to the kitchen area where Kimmuriel kept silent watch over his two equally silent hostages. As he set the wrapped book on the table without a word, his sister faced her two former employees and stared at them with seething hatred.

Kimmuriel stood and greeted her with a slight nod. "Sixthgirl of House Velve'Xukuth, … we meet again. I hear you've been quite busy cleaning out a defunct Sixth House here. Daerazal has told me all about it. Sixthgirl, Sixth House - must have been fate," he drily commented. "And I see _you_ are the thief who stole the book?"

Chizrae's eyes narrowed on the psionicist. "You set my brother on a contract to kill me."

"I set your brother on a contract to destroy an uninvited portal into Menzoberranzan. Just doing my duty to protect our fair city," he added with a hint of sarcasm. "But now I know why and how the portal was created, and it has been recovered. Jarlaxle was right - reversing the game sometimes proves much more profitable and interesting than sticking to the original plan. We've actually done you a favor by trapping and holding the ones who wanted to kill you. No need to pay us, though. They've already given us gems and a valuable artifact, so we give them to you to do as you wish." Kimmuriel gestured toward Jiub and Shazi.

The drowess redirected her hatred toward the dunmer and human who betrayed her. "I suspected you two were doing something behind my back all along."

"You suspected _everyone_ was doing something behind your back," Jiub sarcastically returned.

"Because you _were_! You think my precautions are some neurotic case of paranoia? Well, I think your pretenses at somehow being above that are truly pathetic! How is the fact that your high and mighty Empire hired assassins to kill me any different from my Matron Mother sacrificing me to Lloth? You plotted to set me up for crimes I didn't commit the same way another drow house did. You put on airs, but manipulate people to get what you want. You are no better than us! Was the Emperor behind this?" she demanded. "Because I honestly can't imagine this being his doing, since Caius tried to warn me about it."

Shazi was shocked. "Caius warned you? That was confidential information! I knew I shouldn't have left you two alone after we met at the book store in Balmora."

"Actually ..." Chizrae calmed and folded her arms at her chest. "Actually, now that I think about it, it sounds like someone else is plotting against the Emperor, and you sided with whoever it is. Caius might have been concerned for me, but he is loyal to the Emperor above all else. He must believe Uriel Septim is in danger."

Shazi's brows furrowed. "Are you accusing _me _of treason? I am trying to save the Empire, not sunder it! Caius is the one guilty of treason here - him, and you, and that blasted prophecy you both created! This is his doing! If you treasure Morrowind as much as you say you do, you will not allow it to ruin the rest of Tamriel. Don't make the rest of us bear the consequences from the fanatics who believe you are the Nerevarine!"

"So, Caius is a traitor now for following Imperial orders to save Morrowind, as well?" Chizrae's anger grew. "The only traitor I see here is you. If someone within the government is trying to use the Nerevarine as a scapegoat to replace the Emperor, perhaps I _will_ have to become an enemy of the state to find out who it was."

"Are you saying you _do _intend to fulfill the second half of the prophecy? How dare you accuse me of treason when you admit to such ways of thinking!"

"You forced Talvalo to kill Elgian and murdered Selena in attempt to frame us. Anyone who would betray the Nerevarine for the sake of the Empire is likely to betray the Emperor for the same reason." The drowess straightened with cool resolve. "Prophecy be damned. I'll not be chased away from Morrowind by the likes of you."

"Turn us in for murder if you like, but the Empire will come up with another way to prevent Morrowind from rebelling. I can promise you that!"

Kimmuriel rubbed his chin and moved around the table to the opposite side of the drowess. "Chizrae, how exactly did you come to Morrowind in the first place?"

Chizrae snapped her chin toward him, unhappy with his interruption. "Why do you want to know?"

A slow smile spread across Kimmuriel's obsidian face and his fiery red eyes showed true pleasure at being asked that question. He held up the dwemer scroll. "According to the human, this is a demon's invocation that will cause raw magic to solidify into a portal. It's only good for summoning teleportation magic, but ... imagine the possibilities of being able to open an infinite gateway into other worlds. Do you already have something like this?"

The drowess was surprised to see the scroll and glared at Shazi for having the audacity to wave it right under her nose at the book store. "Perhaps. _Why_ do you want to know?" she repeated her question.

"As you know, I'm not a magic user. I can't summon demons without asking someone like Cean'nafein to help - and that's just not going to happen." He frowned slightly with disdain. "You, however, are versatile in the knowledge of both arcane and spirit magic. As a priestess of Lloth you once summoned demons. If you know how to do this kind of enchantment and are willing to accept hire for it, I'd be willing to make it worth your while."

The drowess's eyes fell to the yellowed scroll in his hand.

"Don't you dare!" Shazi shouted in outrage and stood with clenched fists. "That scroll belongs in the Imperial library. It was found at a dwemer observatory, and it is priceless. It is the only evidence we have that the dwemer were able to travel to the Outer Realms. It might even be the only clue we have to finding out if that's where some of them escaped to when war came to Red Mountain! It took me forever to learn how to use it, and it took a bound daedra to accomplish it!"

Chizrae snapped her chin back toward the mage. "You're not going to be needing it any longer. We will do with the scroll what we wish," she threatened and drew her sword.

Shazi's chest began to rise and fall with her rising anger. "That scroll is in my care. And I created that Menzoberranzan book. I will take _both _of them with me when I walk out of here!" Shazi raised her hands to begin casting her most powerful lightning spell.

Jiub became alarmed, stood, and tried to stop her. "Shazi! Don't do anything stupid!"

"You want your precious mystical book?" Chizrae angrily snatched the book by its protective fabric. "Take it!" She threw the book at the mage to prevent her from completing the spell before attacking, but it slipped out of the nullifying cloth it was wrapped in.

All three drow and the burned dunmer had to dodge the lightning bolt that snapped and crackled toward the table. As the bolt hit the back wall, blasting chunks of rock from the point were it struck, Shazi raised her arms to prevent the book from hitting her in the face. But the instant its powerful substance touched her, she was gone. The left-over energy from the bolt broke apart and zipped around the enclosed room for a second or two before the sparks of the spell faded. The ozone that lingered was incredibly strong. Kimmuriel, Chizrae, Daerazal, and Jiub stared in shock at the open tome that dropped to the floor.

On her hands and knees on the floor, Chizrae looked down at the anti-magic fabric in her hand. "I just sent her to Menzoberranzan, didn't I?"

Kimmuriel and Daerazal started to chuckle, but then openly laughed at her delayed realization of the accidental banishment. "That was the most brilliant battle tactic I've seen in a long time," the psion complimented.

"It's not funny!" Jiub finally fired back. "You have the ring that teleports back here and she didn't get a chance to cast a mark spell! You've trapped her in that cesspool of a city with no defenses!"

Chizrae sheathed her sword and sat back on her heels. With a light shrug she pulled the thin fabric through her fingers. "Well, I'm sure the scheming bitch will feel right at home in no time."

Still chuckling, Kimmuriel tucked the scroll into the waist of his tunic. "Shall I have one of my mercenaries hunt her down for you? I have one that's free at the moment." He gestured toward Daerazal.

Daerazal stood, but shifted his gaze toward Jiub. Only half of the threat was gone.

Chizrae thought about it for a long moment. Then, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the Eilistraeen rune stone. "I think it would be best to let Shazi find her own way out of this one." She slipped the scroll from his belt and dropped her stone into his tunic pocket, instead."

The psionicist recognized what the nature of the stone must be. "Are you trying to banish me, as well?"

"The glyph seals the gate until you wish for it to open. When you are ready to use it, trace the design and say 'Eilistraee.' You don't have to be Eilistraeen to use it, but you do need to be on your best behavior, or the entities within the random portal that opens may not come to your aid. This scroll and its daedra are better left in this world. That is my advice as an expert in both arcane and divine magic."

Kimmuriel was thoughtful of that warning and smiled at her willingness to trade. "I will test it to see if what you say is true, of course, but until then I will consider it a generous gesture toward possible future alliances, … should you ever need the aid of Bregan D'aerthe."

Chizrae quirked a brow at that hint.

"Well, then, … I believe we're done here," Kimmuriel told his agent.

Daerazal met his sister's expression with mixed feelings. "Yes. I suppose we are."

"I'd like for you to stay a little longer, if there's no rush to return," she tentatively suggested, "It's been ... a long time. We should talk."

The mercenary looked to his lieutenant, requesting leave to do so.

Kimmuriel sighed. "Very well. Check with me when you return, and don't forget to bring the portal with you - well-wrapped, of course."

"I gave you my stone. I'd like to keep the book," Chizrae stated.

The psion paused with a hand over it. "The portal to Menzoberranzan must be destroyed."

"If the thing was made with magic from Morrowind, a solution toward its destruction is more likely to be found here than there. Study of the scroll might help, but it will take time."

"It would be foolish to leave such a thing with an exiled daughter of a defunct house."

"Or it could be a smart back-up plan for both of us, should we ever need it. You wanted to hire me to conjure the demons needed to work with the scroll. I can do that best here. Consider this part of the alliance. I will keep it locked away, … safe. Should I learn how to destroy it, I will consult with you again. I assume you have a means to come here, or you wouldn't be here in the first place?"

"There are two rings that will return you to this lair. I will keep one. Daerazal has the other. He can give you the one he has when he's ready to return to Menzoberranzan."

"One of those rings is mine," Jiub spoke.

Kimmuriel ignored him. "As long as you stick to your end of the deal as the book's guardian, I will refrain from handing my ring to the First Matron of Guallidurth. _Alluve_," he told the siblings with a smile before touching the book and disappearing.

"That is _my_ ring!" Jiub angrily protested. "You can't let someone like him keep something like that. Drow shouldn't be allowed to come and go as they please in Morrowind! You don't belong here!"

"You may go ask him to give it back, if you wish." Chizrae gestured toward the book.

Jiub defiantly grabbed the book and disappeared as well.

"You're going to just let him walk away like that?" Daerazal asked with doubt. "You have softened too much living on the surface."

"He's going to ask Kimmuriel to give it back." One brow lifted in amusement.

A slow grin touched his lips in understanding of her subtle plan for revenge, although he was surprised she would share it.

Chizrae stared at the book for a long moment, then used her protective cloth to retrieve it and set it back on the stone table.

"Listen, um, ... you don't ever need to worry about me hunting you down again, okay? I've got better things to do than waste time on you, ... and you're difficult as hell to catch," he lightly added.

Chizrae smiled at his cynical humor and turned to face him. "I'd like to see Talvalo now."

"He's in the back, but there is one more thing ... before I leave." Daerazal unbuckled the more expensive of the two swords at his hips and held it for a long moment, but then offered the scabbard to her. "It's the sword that Jereassian made for you. After the Blooding, when we retreated back into the caverns, I watched until the humans carried you away. I thought you were dead, and this sword represented everything you got that I felt I deserved. I crept back out to get it before the sun could destroy it, but ... it belongs to you."

"A token of truce?" Chizrae took the scabbard and pulled the shimmering, black blade from its sheath to admire it once more. "I had a new Spider Bite made when I came here, and … I need something I can use in daylight on the surface now." She slid the blade back into its sheath and offered it back to him. "You keep this one. Jereassin may have made it for me, but you were his best student."

Daerazal had not expected to receive it back. "Then from now on, it will be Spider Bane, because it has been so helpful in defending me against Llothian attacks."

She smiled approvingly at the sword's new name and ironic purpose.

Daerazal led her to the back of the cavern where Talvalo was lying on the straw bed mat. He had bled heavily through the drow wizard robe he was wearing, but he was still alert and glad to see her.

"Chizrae," Talvalo tried to smile through his pain. "I thought I heard you in there screaming at Shazi and Jiub."

She cast a healing spell over him, but was annoyed when the spell was nullified. "Ah, the robe … It is magic resistant. What are you doing wearing this? You can't read drow glyphs. You might have been transformed into a spider."

"Or a Bob," Daerazal lightly corrected. "It belongs to Cean. He'll not be pleased when he sees your blood on it, either. I'd better leave it here."

"Well, I didn't have space in my pocket for any armor. I thought a glowing bathrobe was better than nothing, but I guessed wrong." He shrugged halfway out of it and lifted the waist of his peasant shirt to expose the wound so she could try again. "Jiub is the one that made me attack Elgian. He's the one who killed Selena," he grimly explained. "But Shazi is our Imperial spy."

"I know. They're gone now. I don't think we'll ever see them again." She cast the spell again and this time it worked. "I accidentally sent Shazi to Menzoberranzan, and Jiub willingly followed."

"If we can't take them to the Imperial guards in Seyda Neen, then we have no proof of our innocence concerning the murders."

"If we had turned them in, they would have exposed your secret. You would still be accused for Elgian's murder. This way is best. But whoever put Shazi up to this will try again, since she has failed." Chizrae saddened. "We should leave Mysthaven and disappear somewhere, … just to be safe."

"Are you asking me to give up my inn, my luxurious estate, and my access to civilization to run off to gods knows where with you?"

"I ..." Chizrae's brows drew together in regret. It was clear she was thinking she had no right to ask that much of him.

Blood loss no longer a danger, Talvalo sat up and kissed the top of his wife's snow-white hair. "I'm sure my mother would be willing to take the horses. We can store our things in some abandoned ruins near there. And I know of a pirate ship in Solstheim that might be in need of a couple of new recruits." He gave her a small wink and then sighed. "I guess I'm just not destined to lead a courtly life. Werewolves rarely do."

Daerazal crouched and began packing his belongings near the bed roll. "If you wish to flee the conspiracy here, you should return to the Underdark. Go to some place like Ched Nasad where no questions will be asked about who you are or where you came from. Were creatures are not so unusual there, and can even find steady employment because of their … talents. Kimmuriel might even be willing to send some watchers, considering he is as interested in the study of that scroll as you are."

"No," she shook her head. "The scroll needs to stay in this world to be studied. And to keep an eye on the Empire's next move against the Nerevarine, I need to be near Imperial City. I should try to hunt down Caius Cosades again and probably consult Vivec on the matter, too. Meanwhile, we should pack everything at Mysthaven and find a place to store it as soon as possible."

"Can we … eat something first?" Talvalo asked with his most pathetic expression. "I worked all day in the garden, and then had to fight your brother - who is a slippery little bastard, by the way - and then we came here. I'm as hungry as a wolf."

Chizrae smiled, then faced her brother. "Come to Mysthaven with us for some dinner and cromberry pie before heading back to Menzoberranzan."

"Dinner?" Daerazal was skeptical.

"She does make a very good comberry pie," Talvalo admitted.

Daerazal's brow quirked and his mouth twitched. "She cooks now? And you actually eat it?"

"Well, the squid soup took some getting used to, but it's better than her lizard on a stick."

))((

Jiub ended up in the tunnels just beyond the city of Menzoberranzan, as he did before, but with one big difference - he had no weapons or magical trinkets. "What was I thinking?" he muttered as he realized his folly. But the sound of crying soon reached his ears, and he remembered why he was here - he had to retrieve that ring. The thief knew very little magic, but he cast a nighteye spell on himself and spotted a glowing figure sitting on the ground in a frightened, crumpled heap. "Shazi?"

She looked up surprised to hear him and cast her own nighteye spell, then clutched his arms in a tight, desperate grip as soon as he came close enough. "Jiub! Did she hit you with the book, too? They have the dwemer scroll! The Imperial library will never forgive me for losing that scroll! And for it to be in the filthy, thieving, black hands of that ... arrogant, fickle -"

"Sssh! There's wild animals in these tunnels beyond the city," he quickly reminded her as he helped her stand and led her toward the distant glow of faerie fire. "Listen, Kimmuriel still has his copy of the teleportation ring. If you can distract him, I'll try to get it off of him. We can teleport home, and then you can tell your contacts that everything is still under control - not to take action against us - while I get Bodil and come back to Guallidurth to let them know where Chizrae is. They sound like they'd be more cooperative toward fulfilling the deal."

Shazi sniffled and wiped her frustrated tears. "Anything is better than being stuck down here in this awful, _awful_ place. Kimmuriel walked right past me without a word when he teleported in, so he should be only a little ways up ahead."

The pair hurried forward until the small, solitary drow ahead of them came into view. Jiub cloaked himself in his one other spell - chameleon. Blending with the shadows, he stalked close behind the Bregan D'aerthe lieutenant, trying to judge which pocket might be keeping the cavern ring.

"Kimmuriel!" Shazi called to him. "I have another proposition for you!"

The drow stopped at hearing the human's voice and turned to listen to what she had to say.

Shazi drew close to speak with him, while Jiub circled around behind him. Should he take the sword from its scabbard and stab him before taking the ring, or just try to take the ring? The thief decided the only way to void the psionicist's advantage over him was to kill him.

"I would like to negotiate another contract," Shazi proposed. "This time, I would like to hire someone from Guallidurth. Could you possibly hook me up?"

"I'm not interested." Kimmuriel turned to continue walking, and Jiub had to jump out of the way to avoid being discovered.

"I can pay twice as much as before." She ran to catch up to him. "It's a small price to pay for the continued unity of the Empire and the security of Morrowind. I've got lots of other magical artifacts that might interest you as well. Mister Kimmuriel, please, I beg you to reconsider."

At the distortion of his name, Kimmuriel grimaced and spun to face her. Without any gesture, he seized control of her mind, freezing all motor movement. "My name is not '_Mr._ _Kimmuriel_'. That is a human title. You will call me 'Lieutenant'. Is that clear?"

Jiub crept close again, trying to position his hand ready to snatch Kimmuriel's sword, but to his surprise, the drow drew it instead. This couldn't be good.

Kimmuriel created a kinetic shield of force around Shazi's entire body as he walked toward her with his sword in hand. "I have very little use for magic, human. Would you like me to show you a psionic trick that my weapons master taught me before Lloth sucked the rest of my house into the Abyss for heresy? This one is an old favorite that even Drizzt Do'Urden enjoyed once." Fed up with her whining, Kimmuriel struck toward Shazi with his razor sharp blade, but hit his own force barrier instead of her.

Shazi's eyes told of her terror with each hit, but she didn't suffer any cuts or pain, so Jiub watched the rest of the odd demonstration in silence. Perhaps the drow was only aiming to humiliate the mage.

The psion grinned at her fear and perplexity as he struck again ... and again. Cuts that should have lacerated her throat, chest, back, arms, legs, abdomen ... Not a single one scratched her body because the kinetic shield absorbed them all. When he was done toying with her fears, he gave a dark chuckle and sheathed his blade. "Goodbye, Shazi," Kimmuriel whispered softly to her ear. Then, he turned to walk away.

Jiub moved behind the psionicist to try for the sword one more time.

"Oh, I forgot to release you," Kimmuriel called back to her without looking over his shoulder. Lifting a hand above his head, he snapped his fingers.

Jiub froze and looked past his shoulder toward Shazi.

With the snap, the kinetic barrier that had absorbed every strike released its pent-up energy. Unseen force sliced and slashed into the mage's body. Each precise cut hit home at the same time as all the others. For the second that she remained standing on her own, the human was in excruciating pain, ... and then it was over. Shazi lay dead on the floor in the tunnel leading away from Menzoberranzan.

"Oh, and Jiub," Kimmuriel addressed him without looking back. "I can see body heat in the dark, so without a cooling spell your cloaking magic is totally ineffective down here. But I'll let you live just to keep this interesting. The name of the First House in Guallidurth is Naldoorl. The name of the First Matron is Drael. I'm sure a local vendor can help you find Guallidurth on the map, ... if you're still in the mood for an Underdark adventure." The drow smiled to himself with satisfaction and walked toward the patrolling scouts.

))((

That night, the rain stopped and the clouds cleared away. The stars and twin moons were visible and bright against the indigo sky. The moon garden was in bloom, scenting the evening breeze in anticipation of the new growing season. After having dinner on the back deck, Chizrae set the comberry pie in the center of the small round table and began to cut slices for herself and the two men enjoying the cool evening with her. Talvalo was resting in his hammock and Daerazal was seated on the deck floor facing the wood stove. As everyone enjoyed tasting their dessert, Loki gave a big yawn and a lazy stretch before moving to sit at Daerazal's feet with a soft whine.

"Oh, sure, now he likes me," the mercenary stated with mild amusement.

Chizrae pulled a chair into their circle to sit down and eat her own slice of dessert. "He accepts you because we accept you. If you threaten us, he will tear you apart limb from limb."

"But he's … just a wolf, right? I mean he's not, um, like a little werewolf and a ...?" He moved a finger between Chizrae and Talvalo in question.

Talvalo laughed at the assumption, but Chizrae was insulted. "Like what? A were-drow baby?"

Daerazal smirked with a shrug. "He's a black wolf - his form, your color. What am I supposed to think?"

Chizrae grabbed the pillow behind her back and _shwocked_ him on the side of the head with it. "Idiot."

He chuckled as she tucked the pillow behind her back once more. "Well, that was brutal."

"You want me to throw rocks at you like when we were kids?"

"You threw rocks at him?" Talvalo tsk-tsked her. "See, I told you little girls should play with kittens and dolls instead of spiders."

"I was climbing a zurhkwood tree once -" Daerazal started to explain.

"Trees? Underground?"

"Well, it's … not really a tree like these." Daerazal gestured around them. "It's a mushroom with hard stems and soft caps. We use them like trees, so that is the best translation for the word."

"And she threw the rock at you because you wouldn't let her draw pictures on your back."

Daerazal was amused the gold elf would mention that, but he shook his head. "I liked sitting at the top, but there was only room for one of us. I wouldn't get down when she told me to, so she pitched a big rock at me. Hit me right here." He pointed to his forehead and chuckled at the memory.

Talvalo frowned mockingly at Chizrae. "Sadist."

She chuckled and reached behind her back, threatening to hit him with the pillow, too.

"It was an act of mercy," Daerazal lightly corrected. "She could have had me flogged. Male children are little better than the slaves in Llothian societies. They are secluded in the family chapel right after birth and taught to obey every command of the priestess chosen to raise them. Chizrae commanded that I leave my chores to go play with her in the mushroom forest. I remember being very conflicted about whether to go or not because I wasn't supposed to say no; and yet I wasn't supposed to be in her company and if I didn't do my chores, I'd get beat. But I knew she could make up some lie about me if I didn't go, and that could make things worse. So, I went. I enjoyed climbing the zurhkwood trees so much that I didn't want to come down. She could have tattled on me, but instead, she hit me with a rock."

"And yet you're telling me this as if it was something fondly remembered," Talvalo muttered, disturbed, but sympathetic.

"It was all I knew. But Chizrae was the youngest of my sisters, and we were closest in age and interest. None of our other sisters would have thrown a rock in warning before making me pay dearly for disobedience. I was able to run back to the chapel, and the sister overseeing my chores never knew I'd skipped out on them to play for a short time. To me, that is a good memory. There are many more that don't even come close. Llothian children don't talk to each other often, … not like this."

"That's true," she agreed, somewhat saddened. "I knew so little about you then. I know even less now. I'm not used to seeing you with such a calm spirit. Did living on the surface with your human girlfriend bring this change?"

His eyes narrowed in doubt. "How did you know about that?"

"When I was doing the Guallidurth mission outside of Calimport, a member of Solomon's mercenary group said he knew you - a bard named Mikal."

Daerazal smiled at the unexpected name drop. "Ah, yes, Mikal … He was bought with the slave caravan at Reiden's Outpost. I set them free in exchange for their help trying to find you. How is he?"

"He is married to the half-drow that requested his aid going into the Underdark, and they have two children. He told me you made it out of Menzoberranzan alive and become a follower of Vhaeraun - that you were living with a human woman on the surface."

"I did for a short time, but then I moved back underground to the sea caverns of Skullport to try to leave everything behind. It's ironic, though, because that's where I ran into Cean, his sister, and Kimmuriel again, … along with Mairiel, the paladin's daughter that was also in that slave caravan."

"Paladin?" Chizrae could sense the reason for her brother's discomfort. "Paladins and drow … They don't mix well."

Daerazal shook his head with a solemn expression. "They hated me. I hated them. She was miserable caught in the middle, so I left. She ended up marrying a knight, instead. I didn't know about it until she came to Skullport needing my help finding her grandfather. I probably shouldn't have let myself get involved again, but ... at the time nothing else mattered. I thought it was a second chance, and I wasn't going to give up so easily again. Her grandfather wasn't missing, though. He turned out to be a gold elf, … and a member of a group of ancestor avengers intent on blowing up Skullport. We made several enemies trying to ruin their plans and ended up having to hide in the Promenade with Cean's sister. While I was there, I made a vow to Eilistraee to serve her if she would just …" He sighed with discouragement. "I don't know what I was thinking. Well, ... yes, I did, but …"

"If she would just give you the girl you wanted?" Chizrae asked with a quirked brow.

"No. No, that's not it at all." Setting down his dessert plate, he pulled his shirt over his head to show her the scar tissue cutting through the silver House Velve'Xukuth tattoo on his ink-black shoulder. "I thought if I got rid of everything that marked me as a product of House Velve'Xukuth, I could better distinguish between who I am _now _and who I used to be. I thought that would make it easier for certain _other_ people to see me in a better light, as well."

Chizrae touched the scar over their family name, then fingered a thin strand of white that came only to his chin. "Is that what happened to your beautiful hair? It was the envy of all your sisters you know, including me. Were you aware that Ghierxha was plotting to sell you off as a little prostitute because of it?"

"_What?"_ Daerazal was appalled. "When was that?"

Talvalo laughed, but then realized neither of them laughed with him. "Oh, wait. You're serious."

Chizrae waved a hand as if it were unimportant. "Oh, I forget what sparked it, but it was right before your coming of age ceremony. You did something that made her really mad, and she went as far as making plans to have you spirited away to some brothel in Ched Nasad. But then you passed your first Blooding and got your house glyph. You were damaged goods at that point because anyone could use that tattoo to identify you as the Elderboy of Velve'Xukuth, … _especially_ from the back," she added with a smug smirk. "You know, you don't have to wear the little braid designs of the Velve'Xukuth nobles, but I must insist that you grow it long again. You hardly look like yourself with it butchered off like that."

Daerazal gave an indignant snort at her teasing and compliment voiced as a complaint. So typical of her. "_Anyway_, … I erased my symbols of Velve'Xukuth nobility and made a promise to Eilistraee and Mairiel. From that day forward, I would fight only in defense. I thought that might redeem me a little for her grandfather and father, ... and _her_. But then her husband came looking for her, and she decided she still loved him. And when we found the grandfather, things got very ugly. He threatened to kill me, so she begged me to go. I left again, but only because that was her wish. When I went back to check on her, she had left with them. I haven't seen her since."

Chizrae sighed and shook her head, all joking aside. "Didn't your days as a Llothian teach you anything? If you're not accepted for who you are, no promise will change that - regardless of whether it's to a woman or a goddess." She registered a sympathetic expression.

He pulled his shirt back over his head and down to his waist. "I served as one of Eilistraee's knights at the Promenade for a short time after that, but then drifted back to Menzoberranzan. Kimmuriel invited me to join Bregan D'aerthe, and Jarlaxle was elsewhere, so ..." He shrugged. "Here I am. As a mercenary, I do whatever little odd-jobs Kimmuriel hands to me, but I don't usually take assassination contracts. I want to believe I made those vows for my own sake, but sometimes, … I'm not so sure. Old habits are hard to break. And part of me still resents you to the very core - enough that I _could_ have killed you for this contract. But I kept thinking about what you've done for these people, and then Cean reminded me neither of us are Llothian anymore. We make our own choices now."

Chizrae smiled. "Cean'nafein? A wise sage?"

Daerazal chuckled. "When he's not playing with skeletons and shiny things."


	20. Chapter 20: Tribunal and Blood Moon

Chapter 20: Tribunal and Blood Moon

Chizrae spent the next few days with Talvalo and Daerazal trying to make plans about what she should do next. Direction was still undecided, but at least packing had already begun.

Then one night, while sleeping, growls and barks penetrated her dreams. It took her a minute to realize she wasn't imagining it. Loki was genuinely upset about something. Bolting upright in bed, she gave Talvalo's shoulder a vigorous shake. "There's an intruder in the house," she hissed.

"What?" he groggily asked, annoyed that he had been so forcefully awakened. Yet the angry barks turned into an unmistakable howl of warning. "More drow?" he asked with caution.

"I don't know." Both of them threw off their covers and reached for the trunk at the foot of the bed where a few spare weapons were kept. Chizrae had just grabbed a glass longsword, when a figure dressed in black leather armor appeared in a puff of smoke and struck her in the back with an enchanted dagger. The sharp pain, blistering heat, and crippling paralysis were nothing compared to the sheer terror she felt as the room suddenly swarmed with multiple assassins.

Talvalo had been reaching for a sword, but at the sight of so many opponents in such close quarters, he opted to transform into the werebeast, instead. Towering over the swarm, he leaped over the bed, barreling his wife's attackers onto the floor and throwing them against the walls. The raging werewolf took on all of the assassins himself in attempt to shield her while she was helpless.

As soon as Chizrae felt sensation in her fingers again, she coughed up blood and began fighting for her life in a different manner, casting multiple restorative spells on her many wounds. As she paused between castings to fight off the dizziness, she noticed that Loki and Daerazal had joined the fight from the hallway. The assassins' dark armor blended well in the shadows, but did nothing to help them escape the wolf's keen sense of smell and the drow's infravision. Loki snapped at any legs and hands that weren't familiar. And with both adamantine swords in his hands, Daerazal made short work of any unguarded backs.

Talvalo grabbed one of the assassins that tried to slip past him while Chizrae was tending her life-threatening wounds. His powerful, clawed hand tore away the leather armor and plunged straight through the man's gut to rip out intestines. Loki chomped down on the dagger-wielding hand of another and refused to release it. Daerazal reversed his grip on the sword in his left hand. Then with one lethal sweep, the poisoned adamantine blade in his left hand penetrated the assassin's armor and ribs at the same time the enchanted blade in his right hand removed the assassin's head. It was good to see her brother's familiar, martial expertise in action once more.

Chizrae continued to drain her magic to prevent herself from losing any more blood, but when she felt strong enough, she whipped behind the assassin going after her wounded wolf and sank the glass blade deep into his throat. Then, she stepped back to watch the last standing intruder fall. Breathless and shaken, she looked around at the carnage - cooling bodies in the dark. The four members of her small family were all wounded and splattered in blood, but no less than ten assassins lay in the spreading puddles of warm blood at their feet.

"What the hell is this? Where did they all come from?" Daerazal angrily demanded, giving voice to what all of them were thinking.

"Are they drow?" Chizrae nervously asked, terrified that the Guallidurth Llothians had sent assassins after all.

Her brother sheathed one sword, knelt by his last kill, and stripped off the mask. "Dark elf, … but not drow." He moved away from the dead dunmer and stripped another mask from one of the bodies. "Human." He moved to a third. This one he paused over, unsure what to think of it.

"Argonian," Chizrae informed him. "They are the lizard people of the Blackmarsh region. Beastfolk are commonly kept as slaves here, but some are free." A chill went down her spine. "These assassins are from Morrowind, but don't look like the Morag Tong."

"Who's the Morag Tong?" Daerazal asked, standing.

Talvalo shifted back to his elven form. "They are a legally sanctioned assassin's guild native to Morrowind. They must have legal writs to carry out executions."

"Then, it looks like someone finally gave up on Shazi and Jiub being able to do the job," the drow surmised.

Chizrae dropped to her knees and began searching the bodies, and Daerazal and Talvalo joined her, but none of the bodies carried legal writs or offered any other clues about who had sent them. Finally, discouraged, she sat back on her heels and covered her face with her hands. Loki limped to her side and licked her hand, and Talvalo wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her; but this had crossed over the line for being consolable.

Daerazal lifted one of the enchanted daggers and studied its make. "They are professional, whoever they are. You need to leave Mysthaven, Chizrae - the sooner the better. Someone with the wealth and power to hand out priceless scrolls on portal magic and hire an assassin guild will stop at nothing to see the Nerevarine dead."

))((

The following morning, after a sleepless night, the furious drowess and her two male companions marched into Seyda Neen to confront an Imperial guard with a report of what happened. Chizrae dropped hints that she knew an Imperial spy had been set on her previously, but she said nothing further about Shazi, choosing instead to focus on the multiple assassins lying dead in her bedroom. When she finished describing the attack, the guard looked disturbed.

"Sounds like the work of the Dark Brotherhood. I'm not sure who you angered, but stay away from me. I suppose this should be officially reported, though. Speak to Apelles Matinus in Ebonheart about this matter."

"You _suppose_?" Chizrae folded her arms and frowned at the guard's hands-off response. "Who the hell is this Dark Brotherhood?"

"Scum, all of them. If they're after you, friend, you'd better find yourself some help. Or write a will. Or both."

"Well, you're loads of help, as always. Who is Apelles Matinus?"

"He's recently arrived from Cyrodiil. You'll likely find him inspecting the grounds at Ebonheart," the guard explained in a non-descriptive manner.

"Rrrrgh!" the drowess growled in frustration before turning on her heel and marching back down the road toward her home. "They are the most lame guards I have ever met! Not once have they been of any help when this sort of thing happens! They did nothing about the Dreamers or the ash zombies! Even when the Tribunal put a bounty on my head, they didn't lift a finger to -"

"Do we even have time to venture to Ebonheart?" Talvalo interrupted her rant with concern. "I mean, more assassins could show up at any time. I think we should get out of Mysthaven first. We can always track down leads to Ebonheart later, … supposing we live through the night."

"And where would we go?"

He shrugged. "How about Jiub's cavern? It's not like he's going to be using it anymore."

Chizrae shook her head. "Kimmuriel has the other ring. No way am I going to take shelter in a place he can teleport into without knocking first."

"Well, … technically, he can do that through me," Daerazal admitted. "It isn't easy on him, but he can form a gateway to wherever I am. Maybe, … I should return to Menzoberranzan now."

She stopped walking and turned to face her brother. "No. I need your help moving. I need ..." She couldn't bring herself to finish that request. To ask for his protection after everything they had been through seemed not only contradictory, but foolish.

"What about the shrine you and Jiub used to stay in?" Talvalo suggested.

"If they have tabs on Jiub, they will probably search out all his past hideouts," she said, giving her head a small shake.

"My Vos cavern, then."

She gave it some thought. No one else knew about that cavern, … did they?

"We can use the Realmsfade books to transport everything there without being watched and in a timely fashion. Then, we can go to Ebonheart and find the person who can tell us more about the Dark Brotherhood. You were wanting to speak with Vivec about Shazi anyway, and that's just down the road from there."

It seemed like the best idea they had come up with yet, so Chizrae nodded in agreement.

Talvalo looked to Daerazal. "We could use the help of a well-armed mercenary such as yourself. Maybe we could pay Bregan D'aerthe to keep your services here for a time."

Daerazal was skeptical and looked to his sister for confirmation. "Is that what _you_ want?"

"I … want … to trust you." They were perhaps the most difficult words she had ever said.

"Should I vow to never again try to spill your blood? Would you believe me if I did?"

"I don't know," she honestly answered. "But … if I can't accept you as you are, promises won't help," she remembered her own advice to him.

Daerazal's skeptical gaze turned to the altmer. "Are you okay with my presence?"

"Are you okay with mine?" Talvalo turned the question back on him.

"You mean the gold elf or the werewolf? Because frankly, the werewolf smells like a wet dog."

Talvalo drew back in mild offense. "If you're referring to our first meeting, of course I smelled like a wet dog. I'd just come in from the rain. At least I don't smell like a wet dog all the time." His eyes, and Daerazal's, shifted to the big, black wolf relieving himself on a tree where they had stopped.

"Okay, Loki needs a bath." Chizrae was annoyed at their combined, unvoiced complaint. "I'll put it at the top of my list of _important_ things to do right now. Are you staying, or not?" she impatiently asked of her brother.

His expression flattened at her familiar, demanding tone. "I'll stay as long as I'm needed, but only as long as you recognize I am here because I accepted your invitation. I am not your slave, and I refuse to be your hired hand," he firmly insisted.

"Daerazal, … you used to be my servant, but I have never considered you my slave. You were my mentor, and I always wanted you to be my ally. Why else do you think I pulled you from those stinking chores to do other things? If circumstances had been different ..." It wasn't an apology. He didn't deserve an apology. But neither did she deserve his allegiance. It was wishful thinking.

He sighed in understanding. "I'll talk to Kimm as soon as we get back. If he demands payment, I'll remind him I'm protecting his interest in the portal and the scroll by staying here with it."

Talvalo nodded in agreement with the new arrangement. "Then we should continue packing for Vos. It'll take us longer to move everything out of Mysthaven than it will to travel to Ebonheart. I suppose I can ask Aridis to come get the horses and manage the sale of the estate if we explain why we're having to leave on such short notice." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking down the path toward home again. "You don't happen to play chess, do you?" he asked of Daerazal. "My brother and I usually have loads of fun with games like that."

"Don't believe a word of it," Chizrae inserted, hooking an arm in theirs as she walked between them. "He's a dirty cheat."

))((

In Ebonheart, Chizrae's contact referred her to someone else who recommended that she investigate the Dark Brotherhood in the capital city of Mournhold. All roads from Vvardefell had been closed to the mainland due to the blight, however, so the mage offered to teleport them there when they were ready.

Chizrae's next stop was Vivec, where she met with the lord of the city bearing his name. Though his priests had once hunted her as a heretic, the warrior-poet godhead of the Tribunal temple realized in the end that they needed the Nerevarine's help if they were to stop the blight - even if ending Dagoth Ur's curse meant ending their own immortality. He had confessed the truth behind Nerevar's betrayal and murder and explained how he and two other mortal members of Nerevar's council had tapped into the tainted god's heart, as Dagoth Ur did, to become like god's themselves. Though still wary of the Tribunal's priests and militia, and though she had never met the other two godheads of the temple, she had come to an open understanding with Vivec. So, she told him what she knew of Shazi's attempt to kill her, hoping he could shed some truth on that as well. Vivec said he knew nothing of a conspiracy against the Nerevarine, though he was certain she would suffer more assassination attempts unless she rooted out and disposed of the source. He agreed that Mournhold sounded like the best place to begin her search.

While in Vivec, Chizrae also relinquished her position as head of the Vvardenfell Mage Guild to a subordinate she felt most capable of doing the job. She penned a note for someone else to deliver to Ocato in Imperial City, but explained only as much as she felt necessary - that Shazi turned out to be a spy who hired an assassin. For all she knew, Ocato and the Council of Mages could have been behind the plan.

When their affairs in Seyda Neen and Vos were in order, Chizrae, Talvalo, and Daerazal returned to Ebonheart to be teleported to Mournhold. There, they tracked the Dark Brotherhood through goblin-infested sewers beneath the Great Bazaar. Not only did they find their Mournhold headquarters and confirm there was a bounty on her head, but further investigation revealed Morrowind's newly crowned King Helseth was behind it. Rumors about the recent deaths of the previous king and a few other notable people who could have posed a threat to his power - as well as a few more failed assassination attempts - led Chizrae to confront Helseth directly. Having failed to kill the Nerevarine, he invited her into his royal guard, instead. Though Daerazal advised her to kill the notorious man while she could, Talvalo advised her to tread with caution. Killing a king, however horrible he was, would certainly plunge the province into civil war, and make her a legal target for the Empire afterward.

Chizrae accepted Helseth's offer for two reasons. She believed it was better to keep her enemy in front of her, rather than at her back. And she needed an alliance with him to investigate the growing dangers caused by the apparent insanity of the Tribunal's figurehead goddess, Almalexia.

She joined Almalexia's branch of the Tribunal temple to spy on her and the strange events blamed on the third godhead of the Tribunal, Sotha Sil. But when all was said and done, Chizrae ended up standing over the defeated body of the false goddess. Sheathing Nerevar's newly recovered blade, Trueflame, she bent to claim his wife's twin blade, Hopesfire. Then, she lifted her gaze to the grotesque, strung-up remains of Sotha Sil. In her madness, Almalexia had murdered him. Two of the Tribunal gods were now dead, and the words of the daedric prince Azura weighed heavy on Chizrae's mind. She had redeemed and destroyed another part of Morrowind. There was no turning back from the second half of the prophecy now.

She tried to explain to the Tribunal priests that two of their gods were dead. She tried to tell them their gods were mortals tainted with immortal magic that drove them mad. But they laughed at the idea that a small dark elf could defeat a goddess. The temple was in denial that it was on the verge of collapse.

With the Dark Brotherhood and Tribunal affairs at an end, Chizrae resigned from the king's command, and her small family returned to Vvardenfell. When she went to see the remaining godhead of the Tribunal, Lord Vivec was sad to hear of the loss of his long-time friends, but acknowledged that there would come a time when Nerevar's blade would need to end his own senility, too. She swore she would see him to that end when it came.

))((

Back at the werewolf lair near Vos, as they pondered recent events while enjoying nix-hound meat and marshmerrow rice cooked over a campfire on the shore, Talvalo was disturbed by something more dark than the loss of the Tribunal temple. "Sotha Sil is gone. If the legend about his pact sealing the gates of Oblivion was true, … that pact was now broken."

Chizrae looked up from the map she had been studying. "Don't tell me you believe that legend."

"No, not really. However, … it is odd that it coincides with the end of the Septim lineage, which carried a similar legend concerning Oblivion."

"I have too much to worry about with my own affairs to be concerned about Oblivion, too," she muttered and looked back to her map.

"True." Talvalo sighed and tried to sound more positive. "Well, at least the assassination attempts are over, right?"

"Are they?" Daerazal spoke with skepticism. "Helseth lives. Chizrae is still his rival in terms of who will control Morrowind. He tried to kill her three times. You think he's going to stop now just because she did his dirty work for him concerning the Tribunal?"

Chizrae sighed and lifted her chin. "And what would you suggest I do? Hire the Morag Tong to dispose of the king? As despicable as he is, that would only throw the entire region into chaos. Enough people hate him that his time will come, believe me. It just isn't now. Besides, I have no desire to control Morrowind. I just want a quiet place to live. Is there no such thing in the _entire_ multiverse?" she complained in frustration.

"This is quiet." Talvalo looked across the sea and rocks toward the twin moons in the night sky. "It's not very comfortable, but it's quiet."

"I don't mind caves. I spent most of my life in them. But even the caverns I lived in had homes in them. I'm tired of sleeping on rock, and we've got so much stuff crammed inside there's barely any room left for us."

Talvalo set down his emptied plate to warm his hands by the fire. "Well, … if you really want my opinion, I still think we should go to Solstheim. It's remote from the rest of Morrowind, and the population is sparse. There's a few Nord villages, but they want nothing to do with Imperial or Morrowind politics. There's only one Imperial fort on the docks - easy enough to avoid after initial arrival. And there's a few pirate villages that also want nothing to do with official business, … for obvious reasons."

"You told Jiub you were a pirate once," Daerazal remembered. "I worked among Vhaeraunian pirates in Skullport, disrupting Llothian trade. Where is this place?"

Chizrae turned the map for him to see and pointed to the northernmost island above Vvardenfell.

"Solstheim used to belong to the Nords of Skyrim, so they don't like being considered part of Morrowind or the Empire," Talvalo informed the two drow. "They keep to themselves and their old traditions. As long as you respect that, they'll leave you alone."

"Is that … snow?" Daerazal put down his plate and lifted the map for a closer look.

"Lots of snow there, yes. But also lots of wilderness, … if quiet is what you want."

"You expect me to live on the surface with snow?" Daerazal's lip curled in distaste.

"You are free to come and go as you please," Chizrae reminded him.

Daerazal sighed and gave the map back. "Does one of your books travel there?"

"No, but we have books for Dagon Fel and Khuul, both of which have ships that go to Solstheim. And we would still have the books to the other places here in Vvardenfell, so it's not like civilization would be too far away."

"But you would have to enchant new keys for a new home."

"That's true, but I think it would be worth it. Actually, the more I think about Solstheim, the more I think it's a good idea." She faced her husband. "Did you have a particular place in mind?"

He shook his head, but became quiet and thoughtful. "We can ask at the _Sea Wolf _if anyone on the crew knows of remote homes."

Chizrae dipped her chin to look into his eyes. "Is … something wrong?"

A wistful smile touched the altmer's lips. "Just … wondering. I never knew what became of, … you know, … Sarinowyn and her friend. They're probably still there. I can't help but wonder if her friend ever found a cure."

"Cure?" Daerzal asked, having missed something important in this conversation.

"His ex-fiancee tricked him and her friend into drinking tainted wolf's blood. That's how he came to carry the curse," Chizrae summarized.

"You are wanting to track her down and kill her?" Daerazal asked.

Talvalo frowned. "Of course not. I'm just curious what became of them, that's all. It's been difficult to live with the curse, so I can't help but wonder if her friend experienced something similar, or if she found a way to be rid of it. And I can't help but wonder if Sarinowyn has any regrets about ruining us like that."

"That woman and her friend are of no concern to you anymore," Chizrae firmly reminded him, draping her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss.

"No, … I suppose not." He received another kiss from her, … and another. Talvalo began to find humor the sudden display of affection. "Jealous much?"

"Enough to scratch her eyes out," the drowess admitted with a cunning smile.

"Really? I find that very sexy."

"I find it rather nauseating," Daerazal interrupted, annoyed. "Should I leave you two alone?"

Talvalo said "yes" at the same time Chizrae said "no".

Chizrae gave him one more kiss and faced her brother again. "So, it's settled then. We leave for Solstheim first thing tomorrow morning."

Talvalo frowned at Daerazal. "Your brother will be getting a separate bedroom in the new house, I take it?"

"Count on it," the drow unhappily agreed.

"If we can profit or break even with the purchase price for Mysthaven, we should be able to find something very nice with plenty of rooms in Solstheim." Chizrae picked up her dishes and headed to the water to rinse them off.

With his sister out of hearing range, Daerazal leaned toward Talvalo and lowered his voice. "What are you not telling her?" he asked with suspicion.

Talvalo debated whether to say anything, but he knew the drow would never let him keep silent on the matter if he didn't. "Nerevarine and Imperial politics of the lowlands probably won't follow her there. The Nords there would care nothing about the prophecy. In fact, they've probably never heard of it. She will get the breathing space she so badly wants if we go there. But ... things much worse than assassins could hunt her, if she's not careful. She made a pact for me with Hircine, God of the Hunt. He knows her by name now. And in Solstheim, I will not be the only werewolf." With a sigh, the altmer lifted his gaze to the blood red moon.

))((

Author's Note:

Thanks to all who stuck with the reading and left reviews, both for the original upload and this revised version.

For those of you familiar with the first version, I realize how _very_ different this ending is, but I hope no one is disappointed with the changes. What can I say, except my muses took me down an entirely different path this time. The previous ending felt too rushed, didn't fit well with the world time line, seemed a bit illogical, and completely left out any acknowledgment of the final expansion pack. This ending acknowledges both expansion packs for Morrowind - Tribunal and Bloodmoon - so that by the time Bloodmoon is done, the Nerevarine is ready for the Oblivion game to begin, or Chizrae and company can afford to have a pirate adventure or two in-between.

For those of you reading for the first time, I hope you found it entertaining. There is a sequel called "Ashlands to Akavir", but since I changed this ending, I will have to give some new thought to how the next story begins. It may be a little longer before I can begin posting it.


End file.
